The burning love for a remarkable East Kilbride boy shone brightly as a brave bunch of fundraisers walked over hot coals to fund his ‘miracle’ medicine.
In a thrilling mind-over-matter firewalk challenge, the East Kilbride community rallied round to raise over £8000 which will secure an incredible SIX MONTHS of cannabis oil for Cole Thomson.
Nine-year-old Cole has a rare form of drug resistant epilepsy and relies on medical cannabis to keep him seizure-free.
But at a cost of £1300 a month, and a whopping £80,000 already spent on sourcing the drug privately, his desperate family had reached a critical point in their tireless campaign for an NHS prescription.
And, despite their pleas being ignored by the people in power, the local community sprung into action, hot footing it to show their support.
And Cole’s big brother Dylan, 12, showed bravery runs in the family, leading the way as the youngest of 15 firewalkers who took on eight feet of 1000 degree hot coals barefoot.
Cole’s mum Lisa Quarrell told Lanarkshire Live : “This will keep my wee boy Cole safe for six months.
"It’s such a huge weight off my mind.
“Last month I was crying over Zoom to MSPs and government officials begging them to help me as we were out of money and it was looking like I might need to take Cole off his lifesaving oil.
“Watching Dylan walk over fire raising money for his wee brother’s medicine made me emotional and filled me with so much pride, I couldn’t believe how brave he was.
“I feel very lucky to have such amazing sons.”
Cole had pledged to brave the daunting challenge but, after a change of heart, mum Lisa stepped in for him on the night.
East Kilbride Thistle players and staff also took on the fiery bid for funds, but it was East Kilbride Rugby coach Allan Steel who had the deepest pockets on the night, donating a massive £2000 due to a bit of Old Firm banter.
Lisa explained: “After an extra challenge from Brendan McNulty donating £1000 for Allan to complete the challenge wearing a full Celtic strip, die-hard Rangers fan Allan matched this donation to not wear the strip.
“The money will be well spent, well done lads.”
Organisers Paul and Zoe Elliott from Mindshift Experiences fired up the walkers in a powerful ‘breaking of the arrow’ ceremony designed to test their mettle before the big event.
Chants of “I can, I will, I must” rang out as the 15-strong team braved the thrilling challenge in front of around 100 spectators.
Lisa added: “I would like to thank Lesley Smith who gave up her full Saturday night to come along take photos of the event, East Kilbride Thistle for letting us host there, taking part and putting on refreshments for the spectators.
“Mindshift Experiences, everyone who took part and everyone who donated because you have managed to raise £8016.71 which will keep my wee boy Cole safe for six months.”
Commenting on the event, Paul Elliott from Mindshift Experiences said: “My wife Zoe and I were privileged to be asked to provide the firewalk to raise funds for Cole.
“No mother should ever have to go through what Lisa has gone through, she works unbelievably hard to fundraise in order to give Cole the medication that he needs. Cole is a very brave and inspirational boy and it was an honour to meet him and his brother Dylan on Saturday.
“All the firewalker’s were amazing, some were very nervous at the start but they all had the same mindset, which was to raise as much money as they could.
“It was a very successful event that will provide Cole with at least six months of Bedrolite oil which is life-changing for him.”
Lisa announced is standing as Labour candidate for East Kilbride Central South in the next local election, with the hope that she can impact reform surrounding medicinal cannabis.
She admitted she is “drowning” in her ongoing battle to gain access to Cole’s lifesaving cannabis oil on the NHS which she insists is “bound by bureaucracy” and “ridiculous guidelines”.
Lisa added: “The NHS say there’s nothing they can do for Cole without more evidence or less restrictive guidelines.
"And the Scottish Government say they can’t put emergency funding in place for Cole as it would be a ‘misuse of NHS funds’ to pay for a private prescription.
“I’ve made it clear that this is an emergency and the Scottish Government has done absolutely nothing. Cole could have died if it wasn’t for this medicine. I can’t let him get sick again.”
Make a donation to Cole’s Campaign here.
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