Rocky’s Story
Meet 10-year-old Rocky!
Rocky loves anything to do with sport especially football, athletics, Formula One and horse racing. You name a sport, Rocky loves it! He also enjoys anything energetic and music!
When Rocky was just one year old, he was diagnosed with Ketotic Hypoglycaemia, which is a condition where the level of blood sugar falls below the normal range following an extended fast. The cause and homogeneity of the condition remain uncertain.
Rocky’s illness prevents him from doing things he would love to do all the time such as limited exercise and playtime as he can become very weak. Rocky has to have his blood glucose reading taken multiple times a day, including being woken up at 10pm and 12am each night for extra feeds.
Rocky sometimes suffers from chronic spontaneous urticaria which causes his face and eyes to swell resulting in him not being able to see. It is a very unpredictable condition with varying symptoms across different individuals. Rocky can become very self-conscious and worried of this when it happens as it can be a life-threatening condition.
Rocky’s VIP Experience
On 26th November 2019 Rocky was invited to the Madejski Stadium to watch the match between Reading FC and Leeds United. He took along his dad Rocky and two cousins Darren and Jimmy Dean. Rocky’s mum Chelsea had advised us that Rocky was a huge football fan when she completed the Box4Kids nomination form online, so the Trust were delighted to be able to invite Rocky to watch one of his local teams play.
Thanks to the support from Macron who kindly donated their box, Rocky, his family and a group of other Box4Kids guests were able to watch the football action in VIP style! They enjoyed a delicious meal and refreshments in the comfort of the executive box before kick-off and were able to watch the match from the box’s private balcony with fantastic views of the pitch.
‘Rocky enjoyed feeling special and having his own space in the luxury of a VIP box was amazing and a massive bonus’ mum Chelsea said. ‘He also liked making friends with the other guests, hosts Bob and Margaret and hospitality staff. If it wasn’t for the Barrie Wells Trust and Macron we would never be able to do this as a family. It was such a great day and we felt as though we had left our worries at home and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as a family. It was so nice to see Rocky smile. Box4Kids have been amazing to us and we have had so many positives stories to tell the doctors and nurses after this experience.’
After his Box4Kids event Rocky described it as, ‘totally epic and not what I expected. I felt amazing afterwards, it feels like we were royalty, it made me feel like I was normal for a day.’
It is due to generous donations like that of Macron that enable the Barrie Wells Trust to invite seriously ill and disabled children to Box4Kids events cross the country. If you know of anyone who has an empty box or if you are a box holder and would like to be part of our Box4Kids initiative, then please get in touch.
