Toy monkey joins the marathon race for deafblind charity
17 April 2013
Teddy, a toy monkey who's helping four-year-old deafblind child Matthew learn sign language, is joining this year’s Virgin London Marathon to raise funds for Sense, the national deafblind charity. Teddy will not be running the world-famous race on his own though, Matt Brand, Matthew’s uncle will be making sure he gets to the finish line.
"Teddy can’t run the gruelling 26.2 miles without a support team - he's only got little legs - so I volunteered to help him around the course and ensure that he gets to the end in one piece!" says 36-year-old Matt from Guilsborough.
Matthew has limited sight and hearing, as he was born prematurely and suffered a brain haemorrhage shortly afterwards.
"When Matthew was born he spent six months in hospital reliant on the love of his family and his own extraordinary determination to survive keeping him going. Four years on he is still fighting, a different battle this time, the challenge now is to grow and develop." explains his uncle.
Learning to communicate has been difficult for young Matthew, as he can't hear or see as well as other children. When his support worker at his local Sense centre realised that Matthew copied everything his toy monkey did, she used Teddy to teach him to sign.
"Learning to sign means Matthew can communicate with his family and friends and get a better grasp of the world around him. He's now learning so quickly! This amazing young man has a resilience to bounce back from whatever life has to throw at him. He's shown more fight and grit in his four short years than most people will need to show in their lifetime."
To celebrate Matthew's achievements, his uncle is running the marathon with Teddy on his back. The pair have been training hard, running 30-50 miles per week and aim to complete the race in less than three and a half hours. Regulars at the local Northampton park events, they've already completed a half marathon and an off-road race.
Matt Brand and Teddy are hoping to raise as much as possible for Sense: "It is a great cause and their centres can make an amazing difference to the lives of those with sight and hearing impairments and their families alike."
To help raise vital funds to support deafblind children like Matthew achieve their own goals, please visit: www.virginmoneygiving.com/mattbrand
Media enquiries
For photos and to arrange an interview with Matt Brand please contact:
Anna Tsirmpa, Press Officer. Tel: 020 7520 0965
Out-of-hours 07770 580 843
Notes to editors
Sense is a national charity that has supported and campaigned for children and adults who are deafblind for over 50 years. There are currently around 250,000 deafblind people in the UK.
Sense provides specialist information, advice and services to deafblind people, their families, carers and the professionals who work with them. We run services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and employ 2,000 people most of whom work in services directly with deafblind people. Our patron is HRH The Princess Royal.
Deafblindness is a combination of both sight and hearing difficulties. Some of these people are completely deaf and blind, but others have some remaining use of one or both senses.
Causes of deafblindness include premature birth and exposure to rubella during pregnancy, which can cause babies to be born deafblind. Sense therefore supports MMR which has proven to be the most effective vaccination programme against rubella. Some genetic conditions such as Usher syndrome can also result in deafblindness. People can also become deafblind at any time through illness, accident or in older age.