A Perth man who suffered a head injury after falling 50ft off a building in Dubai is raising money for good causes as a way of giving back.
Andrew Blair (41) was working in the construction industry in the country in 2010 when he fell off a four-storey building onto concrete below.
He suffered head trauma and was in a coma for four months.
The accident has altered his life and made it hard for him to interact with others as he did before and he’s now in ongoing recovery.
But determined to give back, Andrew has thrown his weight behind a number of charities.
The most recent is the Archie Foundation which is working on a project aimed at local children who have been bereaved . In three weeks time Andrew is set to collect funds for the cause at the Perth Tesco on Edinburgh Road.
The Archie Foundation exists to make a difference in healthcare and bereavement for children and their families across the north of Scotland by working in partnership with the NHS.
The money from Andrew’s fundraising drive on September 17 and 18 is going specifically to support the Archie Foundation's Child Bereavement Service in Tayside.
Previously Andrew has put his energy behind three other fundraising efforts, making friends and rattling buckets in Tesco for Enable Scotland and another time he was at Bridge of Earn asking for donations for Sense Scotland.
Over several months in 2017, Andrew helped the Mindspace Perth team to bring in over £900 by asking Perth Tesco shoppers to give donations.
Mindspace has since been able to use this money to buy outdoor furniture, to create a new outside space for the people who use the charity’s counselling services.
At the time Andrew explained why he did it: “I was a construction project manager out in Dubai, where I fell off the fourth floor of a building, and fell 50 feet onto concrete. I was in a coma for four months recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
“I am now at the end of my recovery, thanks to Mindspace. I wanted to give something back to them for all they have done for me - they mean a lot to me.”
The Archie Foundation is one of the charity partners of NHS Tayside and all-action Andrew has enthusiastically arranged to stand and have a stall over two days next month inside Perth's Edinburgh Road Tesco store.
“I want to alert the community about this massively important service introduction to Perth,” said Andrew. “The Archie's Child Bereavement Service in Tayside provides support and reaches out to kids who have been bereaved.
“If you know I feel passionately about raising money for good causes, perhaps you will stop and give a donation. It means the world to me."
The cash collection in Tesco on September 17 and 18.
