An appeal to raise £20,000 to buy a Perthshire dad a top-of-the-range outdoor wheelchair has created an enthusiastic response - with an online total quickly climbing.
Dean Souter (41), a paint-sprayer living in Blairgowrie, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2018.
Recently, he has noticed his balance and mobility getting worse as a result of his incurable condition.
The eldest of eight Perthshire siblings loves to spend his free time climbing hills.
His younger brother, Michael, has led an online appeal – Doing it for Dean – which is calling for donations to buy a powered chair that will be of great use to Dean.
Michael (36), who lives in Perth, told the PA that his big brother got him into hill-climbing and he wants to ensure Dean won’t be held back if the technology is there to keep him tackling tough terrain.
While out climbing last summer, a friend told Michael about an advanced chair which uses three wheels to power up slopes.
And seeing the Gofundme appeal currently standing at £19,383 has really moved Michael.
He said: “With everybody skint after Christmas and the cost of living crisis, you would understand if we struggled to make Doing it for Dean work but Perthshire people have been beyond amazing.
“We are lucky to have a great network of friends but this has gone way beyond what we hoped for. It’s crazy.
“I guess when times are bad, seeing what’s happening to my brother has made folk have a new perspective. I think people say, ‘well at least I have my health.’
“It’s helped that people can see this is going to directly help an individual’s quality of life going forward.
“As a family we really wanted to make sure all possible opportunities were open to Dean with his MS.”
Michael has a plan to complete a coast to coast cycle challenge on August 5 and 6, with a Doing it for Dean team riding 200 miles from Arisaig to Stonehaven over two days.
The signmaker with Write On Signs has also hooked up with Perth gym – Club 300 – to be supported in its Superteams fundraising event, also in August.
More imminently, Michael is all set to tackle the London Marathon this month. In 2019 he ran it for the MS Society, bringing in £11,000.
His 2020 entry was put off by the pandemic but he had his place rolled over.
Michael hopes the run through the UK capital can also add to the rapidly rising total that has been pledged for his brother.
Among other fundraising activity, drams were popular at Perth’s Civil Service Club on April 7 when Michael added £1300 through organising a whisky tasting.
The event sold a “phenomenal” number of raffle tickets online, which alone brought in £3000 to the £20k Doing it for Dean target.
Before that, Michael’s blown-up photographic print of a stag was a big draw in a ‘bonus ball’ competition which raised £295 in ticket sales.
Keeping it in the family, Carla Simpson – Dean and Michael’s second cousin – did a skydive while on a visit to Australia.
Carla, from Perth, decided to do the tandem jump on her holiday Down Under in February and put her £500 sponsorship money towards the mobility aid appeal.
In June, Dean’s son Josh (9) is aiming to put his best foot forward and tackle a sponsored climb of Ben Nevis.
Michael recalled the moment when he realised some planning was going to be needed for his brother’s future.
He explained: “I took a cool picture of Dean on his last proper hill climb last year, where we camped on the summit of Suilven in the north-west area of Assynt.
“This was a realisation that his unsteady balance and poor mobility was making steep climbs unsafe and too dangerous.
“But he would never want to be stuck on the flat or, worse still, never get to have that eagle’s view again.
“I would never have imagined the online appeal to get him this amazing three-wheeled action machine – a Bowhead Reach – would go so phenomenally well.
“We raised £10k three days after it was set up. And money has flooded in ever since.
“The family is constantly on the group chat amazed at how we are edging towards the amount we need and we might even go past it.
“I always said I’d like to make sure Dean has a good wheelchair for just daily getting about, so hopefully we can get him this too with any extra we raise.
“The Bowhead Reach weighs 40kg and that’s just too much to take apart to fit in his car. So we expect to need a trailer too.
“I want to thank all the kind people out there. We hope before the summer’s out we can get Dean his dream machine.”
• See https://www.gofundme.com/f/4ke8a-donations-for-dean
