Just over €2,300 was collected last Friday for Jerry Forrest by bucket wielding Patrician Academy first year students on the streets of Mallow. This is on top of over €1,000 recently raised by the Junior Rotary Club at the Academy through a school five a-side soccer league, student leg waxing and a Fifa tournament. St. Mary’s Secondary School got behind the campaign with a recent sponsored ‘Bounce for Jerry’ bouncy castle which was great fun and a great financial success for Jump For Jerry. Jerry Forrest is a Cork 4 year old who suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic muscle-wasting condition which leads to early death. There is no cure currently for this condition 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 deterioration of muscles and major organs set to start well before 10 years of age, which would involve him being wheelchair-bound within the next few years. Jerry, his parents and family are astounded by the generosity in terms of time and money shown by school staff, students and the people of Mallow and they will always be grateful.
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.
A ‘Jump For Jerry Facebook’ page gives full details of these events and a series of interviews with TV3 can be viewed on the TV3 website. Anyone wishing to donate to Jerry’s cause can do so to the Jump For Jerry Fund ; AIB, bank code 934100, account number 07673063.