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Our Inspiration: Click on Johnny's photo, to understand from a video why we love Johnny and his charitable heart.
Johnny Depp Gives Wake Up Call To Coma Sufferer Posted: 23 Apr 2008 11:33 PM CDT Written by Tim Saunders A 17-year-old British girl is showing the first signs of waking up from a coma, and her parents are now enlisting celebrities to help with a new charity to help others with the same problem.
Sophie Wilkinson has been in a coma
since a horror car
crash in November last year, and over the past few days she has started to
become aware of what is going on around her, focusing on people, responding to
voice commands and making vocalisations. Her parents, Andrew and Alison
Wilkinson, are thrilled but say now is the crucial time to get their daughter
listening to as many different voice recordings as possible to make sure she
continues to improve, and have enlisted the help of several high profile
celebrities to help them. And the response from famous voices has been so
strong that the couple now want to start up a
service for other coma sufferers.
“When someone is in a coma, it’s important to find that key to unlocking them out of the coma,” said Alison Wilkinson. “It could be a smell, a sound, or a voice. In Sophie’s case we knew she was a huge fan of Johnny so we thought that if she heard his voice it may wake her. We realised what a great idea it would be to have a bank of celebrity voices reading out specific commands that the doctors have issued. No matter who a person’s favourite star is, their family could get a tape from our Wake Up bank. Nobody knows what the right key will be but anything is worth a try, and if we can make that easier for families in our situation it will be worth it.”
Andrew Wilkinson is also excited about the charity initiative idea: “We were
over the moon when Johnny agreed to record a tape, and now more stars are
signing up it’s fantastic. We have had lots of promises from people, but only a
few have actually sent recordings. Now that Sophie is showing signs of
responding to certain voices it’s the critical time to get her listening to as
many different voices as possible. That is why our Wake Up charity is so
important, because people in the future will not have to wait like we are at
this vital time. Having all the voices in a bank will mean we can get them to
the families quicker and celebrities only have to do one recording.”
The
couple are also holding a special charity gala ball on June 5 at the Botley Park
Hotel Golf and Country Club. Tickets can be purchased by contacting
tickets@sophies-gift.com.
More information can
be found at
www.sophies-gift.com.
(On May 20th
the family received a personally signed photo, a video message and a hope to
come and see her soon.)
Johnny Depp's
Words Of Kindness For Dying Boy
One of Hollywood’s favorite sons, Johnny Depp, brought cheer to the final days of a young boy’s life. It has been revealed that the actor sent 8-year-old Mark Westwood an emotional video as the boy fought a progressive brain tumor in 2006. “Keep your chin up,” said the 44-year-old actor in the 35-second video. “All the best, and lots of good luck for the future.” Mark’s grandfather, Paul Robinson, said his grandson watched the video “over and over” during the last days of his life, and it meant a lot to him. “We are so grateful to Johnny Depp for everything he did for Mark,” said Robinson. “Mark was a massive fan of his films, and the message was really special and personal to him.” The story began when Mark’s parents – Barry and Sarah Westwood – became friendly with a couple that also had a sick child undergoing treatment at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, England. The two couples supported each other during their children’s illnesses, and together they dealt with the pain and struggle that only the parents of sick children know. But when Barry revealed that Mark was fanatical about Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean films, he was surprised to discover his new friends were close acquaintances of the star. The personal video message arrived in Sarah’s inbox a few days later. Mark was diagnosed with a tumor in 2005, and, although he underwent three operations to remove the malignant growth, he passed away in January 2007. He spent much of his time in the care of the Alder Hey Hospital, the biggest and busiest children’s hospital in Europe. Founded in 1914, the hospital treats over 200,000 young patients every year. “Mark did so many special things during his life and we have a lot of people to thank,” said Barry. “Alongside the very special message from Johnny Depp, he was granted his wish of becoming a police officer for the day by North Wales Police, and he got to step out on the turf as a mascot for his team Manchester City.” Depp had his own taste of near disaster last March, when his 8-year-old daughter was hospitalized after E-coli poisoning caused her kidneys to fail. “To say it was the darkest moment, that’s nothing,” the 43-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly. “It doesn’t come close to describing it. Words are so small.” The actor dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean for Mark Westwood’s video, and also sent a signed photo. Copyright © 2008 Look To The Stars. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission.
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