When Jett McNamara was born with a 1 in 100,000 congenital disorder which left him without a lower spine doctors told his mother he would never be able to walk.
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Now two years old, Jett’s willpower has already overcome his disability and he gets around with the help of a walker.
“He’s got no calf muscles and his feet are very deformed so really the doctors are amazed that he is getting around – he’s that determined that he wanted to get around but it’s just tiring for him,” Jett’s mother Amy McNamara said.
“He’s a little champion really, considering that we were told he’d never walk.”
But soon Jett will no longer be able to rely on his walker alone and will need a wheelchair.
Ms McNamara was hoping he would be able to get accustomed to his new chair before starting three-year-old kinder next year, but the $6000 price tag made meeting that goal difficult.
“Having Jett costs us a lot more money than the average child, he’s got to constantly go to see specialists in Melbourne and then he’s got operations and sometimes we’re going down once a week to see specialists in Melbourne so even the cost of travelling and all the rest is very hard as well,” she said.
That was when the team at Strathdale Pharmacy stepped in.
Retail manager Caroline Marsh said Jett had become close with the business’s employees, who he calls “his girls”, through his regular visits to the pharmacy.
“He came in one day on his walker and it was the most inspirational thing I have ever seen,” she said.
“All the girls here, we all know Amy really well and we all chat with her and we decided that we really wanted to to something to help her out.”
So the staff began collecting a gold coin donation from each document the pharmacists witnessed and donating it towards Jett’s wheelchair fund.
“Our customers have been great,” Ms Marsh said.
“They all ask after him and how he’s going, he’s quite the little star around here.”
Ms McNamara said she was in “an absolute state of shock” when the pharmacy offered to help out.
“Over time they’ve got to know Jett and I would tell them what was going on with surgeries and everything and they just thought it was terrible that there’s not enough funding out there,” she said.
“Caroline came up to me and said did I mind if they put up a picture of Jett and a bit about him and start raising some money for him, and look, it brought tears to my eyes because it’s nice to know that there’s caring people out there.”
Contributions to Jett’s wheelchair fund can be made at the Strathdale Pharmacy in Strath Village.
Ms McNamara said a new wheelchair would be real improvement to Jett’s quality of life.
“At the moment he can’t really get around because he’s in plaster now, he has to sit in a chair and not be able to do anything, if he was in a wheelchair he’d be able to push himself around and do what he wanted,” she said.