Many R’s fans will already know who Grace Murphy is. Grace is of course the little seven-year-old QPR fan suffering from a condition known as Spastic Diplegia which is a form of Cerebral Palsy. In January a fundraising appeal launched to help send her to America, very quickly gathered momentum as the news spread throughout the Rangers community. Not available on the NHS, ¬£40,000 is the sum required to enable Grace to receive life changing treatment at the St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri. The operation is called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy or SDR for short. Doctor Park has been performing this operation for over 28 years. He has operated on over 2,000 children with a 100% success rate.
As the appeal got underway, the news also reached Neil Warnock and he was quoted in the local Gazette as saying: “The QPR supporters are incredibly loyal and there is a real feeling of togetherness among them, which is something we are extremely proud of. The way in which they have thrown their financial support behind young Grace, particularly at such a difficult time of year, is fantastic. It says so much about the supporters we have. The players have all been made aware of Grace’s plight, and it has really touched them. They are in the process of organising their own donation, which will help Grace reach her goal.”
Grace’s mum Claudette said: “We have been saving to send Grace for an operation in America which would improve her quality of life considerably. We posted the link on the off-chance and we have been bowled over. We are lost for words to be honest, with the generosity of the Rangers fans. Some of them don’t even give their names, so we don’t know who to thank. But we want to thank every single person who has helped us. It is astonishing how the club and the fans have got behind one little girl. We can never fully express our gratitude.”
Grace from Sunbury-on-Thames has been going to Loftus Road with her dad Eddie for two years and I spoke to Claudette and Grace briefly after a recent home game and since then, Grace and her brother Teddy were invited by the club to be QPR mascots. There was a bucket collection by the OSC and R’s fans have been sending donations and auctioning items on ebay etc. Nearly ¬£30,000 has been raised so far. For further details and to make a donation please visit:
www.gracemurphysdrfund.webeden.co.uk
Best wishes to Grace and her family and thanks to Claudette for sending me the above pic.
Steve Russell
Claudette has asked me to put up the following message:
‘Steve, can you please let the Independent R’s know how grateful we are to them for their continued support. Ed and I know that our fundraising journey would have been much harder without the QPR Family’s ongoing support and encouragement. Every one of them is going to change our little girl’s life forever, and ours, how on earth can you thank people for something like that ?’