To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Jo Wilkinson. I am a local mother of four gorgeous boys, a business women and am going to be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro on the 12th December 2010 in memory of my late father Dave Jeffery, to create wheel chair and disability awareness and to raise funds for The Quadpara Association of South Africa.

My Dad was an amazing man, who came to South Africa from Wales as a professional football player, married my Mom, Barbara Jeffery (who was the south african soccer captain at the time – Mike James’s sister) and lived in South Africa for the next 35 years. He was a truly awesome man who chaired many clubs and was affiliated to associations which saw underprivileged people received sponsorships for sports, built tent cities in rural areas, raised money for children living with and / or affected by HIV Aids and many other initiatives.

He was not only a very big hearted and generous person, but he had an amazing sales ability, and enormous sense of humour, that ensured that he was extremely popular and was an awesome Father, husband, businessman, friend, colleague, son and brother.

When Dad first got ill, he lost the use of his voice, and being a sales man, this was devastating. Secondly, he lost the use of his legs, which as a very sporty and active person, this was a huge blow! However, my Dad still remained positive and bright as he believed that a cure would be found that would give him the use of his legs back. Sadly, the paralysis spread up his body, and as he was losing feeling in his hands, arms and upper chest; he had a massive brain hemorrhage, which resulted in his complete paralysis.

Tragically he passed away from organ failure.

Not a day goes by that I do not miss and think of my Dad and / or do I get people admiring and respecting the man he was.

One of the many things that we as a family, and his friends did learn out of this experience is that there are very few wheel chair friendly places in and around Durban, including restaurants, toilets, shopping centres, gym’s, doctor’s rooms, movie theatres, buttons in lifts etc.

We also noted that there are also very limited wheel chair appliances, as well as the fact that wheel chairs are heavy, and the aluminum ones are very expensive, therefore limiting wheel chair users and people with disabilities, access to more user friendly appliances.

Lastly we noticed that Disabled parking’s were either not wheel chair friendly, or used by abled people! My Mother said to a lady once “Why are you parked in a disabled parking” to which she replied “I was only popping into the shop for 1 minute”, to which my Mom answered “believe me, you wouldn’t want to be disabled, even just for 1 minute”.

A couple of months ago another local couple, Tony and Debs Lotter and their two sons Luke and James were in a car accident. Tony and Debs were killed, and James passed away from his injuries a couple of days later, leaving Luke as the only survivor. Luke is recovering well, however, is paralysed from his waist down. Luke is only 8 years old.

This terrible tragedy has revoked my passion for creating awareness for wheel chair users and people with disabilities.

Therefore, in memory of my Father, to create more wheel chair and disability awareness, to promote safe driving, safety belts, rugby “bad tackle” awareness and to raise funds for the Quadpara Association of South Africa, I am climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro between 12th December 2010 and 20th December 2010.

No mountain is too high to climb with Faith, positive thinking and support!

Any persons / organizations etc who either support this by donating an article / training advice / kit etc, sponsoring funds to Quadpara Association of South Africa, buying and wearing the Stand Tall bands etc will be photographed and mentioned on the various websites (which currently are Facebook: Jo V Kilimo and www.regents.co.za).

Any sponsorships / donations made towards this cause will also receive a letter from Ari Seirlis (National Director of The Quadpara Association of South Africa) and a Section 18A Tax Certificate.

The Quadpara Association of South Africa (QASA) is in full support of this venture, and will ensure that the funds raised will be used to support their various projects and services which the association delivers. They have over 600 members spread all over the country who benefit from the services provided by the association, and being a non-profit organization, rely on donations.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Warm regards,

Jo