Bin men do the rounds for Rosie

A group of city council bin men will be doing the rounds in the boxing ring later this month to raise funds to improve the life of a young disabled girl called Rosie.

Rosie Phillips became profoundly disabled having suffered numerous seizures from the age of four months old.  Now at the age of three years old, Rosie is unable to see, sit, talk or walk. She has no head control and is fed through a gastrostomy tube.

In their mission to ensure Rosie lives as comfortable a life as possible, her dad Stuart Phillips who is a member of the council’s waste collection team and mum Sarah have launched a campaign to raise funds for essential adaptions to be made to their family home in Lancaster.

Following months of training at the local gym, Stuart and fellow drivers and loaders Adam Mulgrew, John Cardo, Lee Coyle, Mark Wade and Andrew Mayor will be battling it out with each other to raise funds for the cause in a charity boxing tournament at The Carleton in Morecambe next month.

Stuart who works as a loader for the city council and recently gained his HGV licence to drive a refuse wagon, told us:  “When Rosie was born in January 2014, all seemed perfectly normal.  We already have two boys so to have a girl was amazing. 

“Everything was going fine until at almost four months old, our perfect little girl had her first seizure.  Regardless of the medication Rosie was given the seizures continued and without any firm diagnosis as to what was causing them her physical and mental development sadly came to an end.

“Rosie is adorable and beautiful and makes us laugh every single day.  Our main focus now is to be able to ensure her life is as comfortable as it possibly can be and to support our new life we need to make significant changes to our home. This will include the building of an extension and the installation of a lift, a specialist bathroom and lots of essential equipment.

“I cannot thank my fantastic workmates enough for being prepared to go a few rounds with their workmates for the cause.  I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all the time and effort they have put in to help us reach our goal.”

The tournament will take place on Saturday, May 20 at The Carleton in Morecambe.  Doors open at 6.30pm and tickets cost £30 (VIP table £40) and available from West End Gym, West End Road, Morecambe or by calling the promoter tel. 07949699216.

For more information or to donate to the cause visit the Phillips family's Just Giving fund raising page.

Last updated: 02 May 2017