The Patrician Academy and St Mary’s Secondary School have been very busy in recent weeks and months to raise money for Jerry Forrest, a Cork 4 year old who suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic muscle wasting condition which leads to early death. Patrician Academy students have just finished a school 5-a-side soccer league and a sponsored leg wax which was particularly painful for several well haired Transition Year students. Also, first year students are taking part in a collection in the town this Friday and will be rattling their buckets on the street. Any support you can give will be greatly appreciated by Jerry and the boys. St Mary’s students also joined in the fundraising, bringing a bouncy castle to the school so students could ‘jump high’ and donate to the Jerry Fund. A total of €300 was raised in the event, organised by the Students’ Council.
There is no cure currently for DMD, but UK based research is making progress on a treatment that may be able to slow and possibly reverse the condition. At the moment Jerry’s life expectancy is in his twenties to early thirties with deteriorating of muscles and major organs set to start well before 10 years of age which will involve him being wheelchair bound within the next few years. His parents and family are spearheading a campaign to raise €250,000 for research in the next year. Michael Forrest, his father, teaches at the Patrician Academy in Mallow while Dolores Foley, his mother, works at St. Angela’s College in Cork. Both schools are supporting the campaign. Various events are ongoing.
The ‘Jump For Jerry Facebook’ page gives full details of these events and a series of interviews with TV3 can be viewed there or on TV3’s website. Anyone wishing to donate to Jerry’s cause can do so to the Jump For JerryFund; AIB, bank code 934100, account number 07673063.