"My
mate, Vickie Bristow"
Vickie in
1998
By
Master Deadly Dicker Hopkins
Do you know this
little girl? Well if I told you that she was one of the bravest people I
have ever met would you believe me? Well "she is”.
In early 1998 a
police officer wrote to me concerning this little girl Vickie Bristow who had
Cerepal Poulsey and her only dream was to walk. The letter explained that
Vickie was 6 years old and badly need money for treatment abroad in Hungary
however the government wouldn’t help and money would have to come from
private funds. “Could I help,
as Vickie loved Martial Arts”. Having
kids myself I felt I just had to do something, I set about my arrangements,
WUMA Instructors were great and the money rolled in.
Thousands of pounds later and with treatment Vickie was getting what
she deserved “A Chance to go for it and attempt to walk”. Vickie
had treatment after treatment and in November 1999 Vickie walked 12 paces.
I was contacted immediately by Mum Mandy, I then put a newsletter out
and phoned around giving this great news out to members.
Vickie was then invited down to Cheltenham with Mandy and Rob her parents to show me she could walk, this little girl stood in front of hundreds of people at a tournament and walked towards me, I took hold of her and gave her a cuddle and she whispered “Thankyou for making me walk”. Every where I looked I could see tears, people were crying, but for me, just to hear her words were better than any trophy I won in the 20+ years of competing, we awarded Vickie an induction into the Hall of Fame that day in honor of her hard and dedicated work. I remember writing months before in a newsletter: It will be all worth it the day we see her fulfill her dream and see her walk. I personally believe that to help someone fulfill their dreams must be one of the ultimate accolades of life so come on people, “there’s still time to give us a helping hand”. And they did, the response was great and I will always be proud of us all, even today we still get people raising a little money for her as the treatment is still going on, in truth, walking was only a stepping stone as she has many problems that can be helped with hard work.
Just before Christmas 2000 Vicky was took very ill and
while in hospital I sent her a teddy “with Deadly gloves and boots on of
course”, she got well but now needs more treatment. I would like to re-boot
this appeal and give Vickie what she deserves after all her dedication and
hard work she has shown us in the past. A good and happy life with the added
trophy of what we all take for granted “walking”. I would like to ask all
WUMA Instructors to arrange a small sponsored fight in your club of say a ”25
bout kumite” The WUMA
HQ will sponsor this by having FREE certificates made for all entrants.
Any event would be great to help this little girl.
We will supply for free all certificates, entry or sponsor forms etc.
Martial Artists please help!!
Thankyou for your time and I apologise if you found this
story distressing however as stated earlier, I believe that “to help
someone fulfill their dream must be one of the ultimate accolades of
life" and I will do anything to help Vickie, so come on guys:
“Lets do it!”
DD
Attention:
We did this in 2001 and were able to buy Vickie what she needed at the time -
but Vickie still needs our help...