Southsea family aim to raise £25,000 to help Lennon, four, regain some vision

The family of Lennon Beech are hoping to raise £25,000 to pay for stem cell treatment overseas in a bid to help him regain some of his sight and mobility.

Lennon, from Southsea, was diagnosed with severe global development delay after he became ill with meningitis at just three weeks old.

He is now registered blind, has epilepsy, limited mobility and fluid on the brain.

His family launched a fundraising campaign 18 months ago and they have already raised £18,000, but still need a further £7,000 plus money to pay for their flights.

Mum Donna Magee said: ‘The fundraising is going well and we still have some money to come in from an event run by the Hampshire Skinhead 
Association. Once we have that, we are at about £18,000 which is amazing.

‘The money will pay for treatment for Lennon, where he will have millions of stem cells put into him and hopefully some of the good cells will help repair the damaged optic nerves.

‘We know it won’t give him his whole sight back, but hopefully it will improve his vision.

‘We are nervous but can’t wait to have the treatment done. We didn’t expect to get to this total so quickly, it’s amazing.

‘There are some wonderful people out there, some who I don’t even know, who’ve come forward willing to help.

‘There are so many good people out there and we are very grateful.’

Lennon’s family – including dad Steve Beech, 31, and siblings Sapphire, 10, and Shae, two – are looking forward to spending time together at Christmas before relaunching their campaign with a series of fundraisers.

Donna appealed for people to help them arrange events, or to choose their appeal to donate to.

She said: ‘If I could give him some of my cells I would, but it doesn’t work like that.

‘We are willing to try anything that will help him.’

To get involved e-mail [email protected] or go to justgiving.com/fundraising/lennonsgoal