Mum's tears of joy as public shower disabled daughter with birthday cards

Speen woman "overwhelmed" by response to her request in the NWN

A SPEEN mother admitted she was reduced to tears after 550 people have so far responded to her request to send her severely disabled daughter cards for her 10th birthday.

Alicia Jordaan has quadrip-legic cerebral palsy, cortical blindness, epilepsy, is gastric fed twice a day and is dependent on round-the-clock care.

Consultants didn’t think she’d live past the age of three and feared she’d die if she ever had to be ventilated again, but Alicia has defied the odds and will turn 10 on December 7.

Mrs Jordaan contacted the Newbury Weekly News asking people to shower her daughter “in love and cards” – and the response has been overwhelming.

Speaking to the NWN this week, Mrs Jordaan said: “Words cannot explain how grateful I am to every single person who has helped make our wish for Alicia come true.

“We’ve received cards from all over the world – Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United States, Austria, Malta, Spain, Guernsey – it’s incredible.

“We’ve been absolutely inundated. I’ve even had to put a makeshift temporary post box outside the house to cope with the sheer volume of cards. I never thought we’d get this kind of response.

“Most days we’ve had over 30 cards come through the door and other people have brought presents and offered to make her a cake.

"Just to think that so many people, who don’t even know Alicia, have gone out of their way to buy a card, write it and post it to us. It’s amazing.

"I’ve cried so many times. I am so excited for her. Thanks to the generosity of others, it’s going to be her best birthday yet. We’ve still got to collect some cards from Tesco, so goodness knows how many we’ll end up with.”

Mrs Jordaan has two other children, 12-year-old Dylan and seven-year old Christopher.

Sadly, Mrs Jordaan lost her other daughter in 2004, when she was 36 weeks pregnant.

If you want to help shower Alicia with love on her 10th birthday, it’s not too late to send her a card. They can be posted to Vikki Ann, Marlyns, Bath Road, Speen, Newbury, RG14 1RG.