UNTIL now going to Glastonbury, Britain’s biggest festival, is something Jody Dickinson could only dream about doing.
But, thanks to Wantage charity Festival Spirit, the 22-year-old will be joining thousands of revellers at the three-day festival in Somerset next month.
Jody is blind, partially deaf, and suffers from epilepsy, curvature of the spine, and lymphoedema, which causes swelling of limbs.
Despite her disabilities, music is her passion.
Her mum Sue Dickinson, 53, said: “On paper it is awful, but as a person she is great.
“She loves music. It is her life.
“Because she cannot see, she cannot watch TV or play video games, but she is very much into her music.”
Jody, of Hamfield in Wantage, has to be connected to a ventilation system every night after she spent four weeks in intensive care in January last year.
Her mum added: “We did not think she was coming out.
“Now this overnight ventilation just boosts her up before every day.
“The overnight ventilation makes it impossible to even think about camping.
“(But) this amazing charity has made this whole thing of going to a music festival possible.”
Festival Spirit founder David Tinker said about £8,000 was needed to take 10 people like Jody to a music festival.
The charity also takes nurses and young ‘buddies’ to accompany the guests and act as helpers.
Mr Tinker, of Orchard Way in Wantage, said: “We take young adults who would normally only dream of going to a music festival because of their conditions.
“They are doing something youngsters their age should be doing so it feels ordinary.”
Mr Tinker added: “It becomes huge for these disabled kids. It is a sense of doing something normal and being in a festival environment is incredibly healing.”
Jody’s family and friends are taking part in the Rotary Club of Abingdon Vesper’s annual Dragon Boat charity race on Sunday, to raise money for the charity.
The team will paddle the 40ft narrow boat to the rhythm beaten on a drum by Jody’s granddad Jeff Eyley, 78.
Mrs Dickinson said: “We have no aspirations to get further than the first three races. We are doing it for fun.”
Jody’s grandparents Jeff and Ann Eyley held a coffee morning at Park View, Garston Lane, Wantage on Saturday and raised £420.
bwilkinson@oxfordmail.co.ukl To donate visit just giving.com/sue-dickinson or call Sue Dickinson on 01235 765051.
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