When Luke made the decision to climb 25 feet up a tree near his home in Farnborough, little did he know what the results of that decision would be.  Every member of his family, all wish that he had chosen to do something else; but he didn’t.  After falling the whole 25 feet to the ground below Luke was rushed to Kings College Hospital for emergency treatment.

Luke had an amazing recovery from his ordeal; beyond all expectation. After moving from the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit into the general paediatric ward he was given a surprise visit by Olly Murs, an X Factor finalist, who was visiting the ward. Although no-one knew at the time, this was not going to be the only time that the X factor was to feature in Luke’s young life, but many things would happen before this, the first of which was Luke’s continued recovery.

Olly Murs and Luke

After a stay of more than 50 days, Luke was finally discharged from the Hospital, to continue his recovery, which remains positive, particularly with Luke’s return to school, which was a high point for Luke and his family.

Luke’s discharge at the end of July, meant that his parents, Peter and Diane, could finally return our Ronald McDonald House, which had not only enabled them to remain close to Luke throughout his Hospital stay, but had also allowed his siblings, Jack, Shaun, Imogen and Lewis to visit, which played a vital role in helping the whole family cope with this traumatic event.

The whole Rainthorpe family were deeply moved by the help they received from the Charity and arranged a host of fundraising events, the first of which was a charity auction organised by Luke’s maternal grandparents, Steve and Lynne at their local pub, The Thatched Cottage. This was closely followed, before Luke’s final discharge, with a 10 mile sponsored ‘Walk’ by a 27 strong team of friends and family, which included Luke, who happily enjoyed being part of the team, managing to walk part of the way! The Aldershot McDonalds restaurant saw the walkers off with a great breakfast, while the Farnborough branch supplied lunch before the team retraced their steps back to Aldershot. The event promoted the support of the local radio station and newspapers.

Following on from this Luke’s paternal grandparents, Paul and Stephanie organised a successful ‘Summer Fun Day’ to further help boost the family’s fund raising contributions even further. But now we are able to thank this young man who, despite his injuries has inspired so many, to do so much to help other families in need of a safe ‘Home from Home’. Being given the opportunity to join other Ronald McDonald House families in special VIP box at the fabulous O2 Arena ‘X’ Factor Live Tour on the 31 March 2012 was a totally unexpected event for the family. An evening that prompted the following words from his family:

“Am so happy Luke gets to go to the ‘X’ Factor Live Tour with his mum and dad. We are going to have one happy little boy when he comes home from school, with thanx to the rmhc xxxxx”

“Looking forward to next Saturday night when we go to the O2 to watch the X Factor Live Tour with Peter and Luke. Thanx again to the RMHC for making this happen and making our boy very happy xxxxx”

X Factor what an amazing night luke loved all of the acts xx

Diane, Peter and Luke at the X factor concert

We are more than pleased to be able to bring happiness to several families that have battled with ill health and are in need of some extra moments of joy.

We hope all our families will be inspired to fundraise and volunteer in our House. We welcome all the help we can get.

Maddi