100km run in aid of Muraad
Former Run4Schools manager Frank Steyn lead a group of runners on a 100km-run from Green Point to Woodlands, on Sunday, to help raise much-needed funds for Muraad Amsterdam, 12, who has cerebral palsy.
His mother, Mariam, said Muraad, the youngest of two children, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of five.
He cannot walk or sit up on his own and is fed through a tube.
Earlier this year, Plainsman reported that HOD of referees, Gabriel de Bruin and his colleagues, which includes the youngster’s father Muneeb, also came up with a plan to assist the Amsterdam family, in trying to raise funds for Muraad to have a surgery which costs approximately R130 000 (“LFA refs blow whistle for a good cause”, Plainsman, Wednesday August 9).
Steyn, a close family friend of the Amsterdams, from Bonteheuwel, has undertaken similar fund-raising efforts previously to help raise funds for worthy causes, including running the Two Oceans marathon in school shoes. He said that following a series of preoperative tests in November last year and after discussions with health specialists, it was decided that Muraad would be an ideal candidate for a Baclofen Pump implant, also referred to as ITB therapy.
He said the group embarked on their epic run in the early hours of Sunday morning, from Green Point, and that it took them 15 hours on the road to complete the 100km for Muraad.
“We started at 3.30am and did the Cape Argus Cycle Tour route in reverse. Some runners finished with me, others hopped on and off,” he said.
