It’s time to go barefoot bowling to help raise funds for Team Uncle Bob.
The Werribee Bowls Club will host a special event later this month, to help the family of Rob ‘Bob’ Tottle in their efforts to fundraise for research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
In March last year, lifelong Werribee resident Rob was diagnosed with MND.
Rob’s daughter, Chera Tottle, said her father was diagnosed with the illness after he retired from almost 40 years of service in the MFB.
Ms Tottle said there was no cure for MND, an illness in which nerve cells fail to work normally, causing the degeneration of muscles which help people to move, speak and swallow.
She said that her mother Lyn was now Rob’s full-time carer, and that MND Victoria had given them an electrical wheelchair for Rob – a formerly very active man – to use.
“This man who was so strong and could just about build anything, and did for just about everyone, could no longer walk or pick up his grandchildren,” she said.
Ms Tottle said her father had been asked to donate a tissue sample for research being conducted by Neale Daniher’s foundation, into finding a cure for MND.
She said as a result, her family – including herself and brother Ashley, her uncle Marty and cousin Gerard – had decided to join Daniher’s Drive as Team Uncle Bob.
The annual driving event, which will be held in October this year, raises funds for the Fight MND organisation.
Ms Tottle said they hoped to raise $5000 and have already raised more than $2670 thanks to donations and a fundraising barbecue at Snap Fitness in Werribee. Rob’s former workplace, MFB station number 47 in Footscray, has also donated to the cause.
The Barefoot Bowls event will be held on Saturday May 26 at 5pm. Tickets: adults $10, kids $5, sausage sizzle $2, novelty bowls competitions $5. Buy tickets at www.ticketbo.com.au/team_uncle_bob or see my.fightmnd.org.au/team_uncle_bob for details.
