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Appeal for funds to aid Romanian teen
BY ANNE PALMER
a.palmer@newsletter.co.uk

A MAN who lost in wife in the Omagh bombing is appealing for help to get a specialist wheelchair delivered to a severely disabled Romanian teenager.
Kevin Skelton met paraplegic Alexandro Cassino, 16, while working in the former communist country last year.
He had followed the example of his wife Philomena, who was killed in the Real IRA bomb blast a decade ago, by continuing to work with Romanian orphans.
He took one orphan, Andreea, into his home for a holiday but later discovered her mother Maria was still alive - and later married her.
Now the couple have a beautiful baby girl named Gabriella, aged one, while Andreea, now 21, also lives and works in Omagh.
Mr Skelton has worked in Romania over the past 10 years, helping to build orphanages, and helping poor and needy families to get furniture, electricity and running water into their homes.
Life's changes have enabled Kevin to move on, and while Philomena's memory is still very much with him, he has moved from the old family home in Drumquin to Omagh.
"It's been 10 years of highs and lows with everything that happened.
"I've done things and been to places that I probably never would have been. It has been a rollercoaster," he said.
"The move made a lot of difference. I still go out to Philomena's grave in Drumquin once a week. You are leaving it behind, but you can visit any time," he said.
"The last few years have been very different than the years before."
He said having a new baby was a shock to the system: "We have a lovely wee girl, a wee gift from the angels."
Mr Skelton said for now his main focus is getting the wheelchair out to Romania.
He hopes enough money can be found to support the North West Romanian Rind, which is to take a lorry out at the end of August.
The rising cost of transport fuel and travelling logistics has impacted on the number of lorries the charity can send to Romania.
He hopes the new wheelchair will give teenager Alexandro a new lease of life and mobility.
"He can't speak, he just smiles. His father has to nurse him all day in his own house.
"This new wheelchair folds back, so he could sleep in it, and his wee legs could Be safely secured so he doesn't fall out of the wheelchair," he said.
"He was born that way. He just lies there. All he can do is smile. He can't move," he said.
"It is a hard life for them and the wheelchair would mean so much to them."
The wheelchair was donated by the Red Cross and is a grade A piece of equipment, he said.
Sean Young, chairman of North West Romanian Rind, said it used to cost around £1,500 to send a lorry, but the figure had increased to around £2,300.
His team of volunteers have just returned from opening three new orphanages in Romania and tomorrow 22 children will arrive to stay with host families in Londonderry and the north west.
"Leaving from here with a full lorry load, you have to pay the ferry, and diesel for driving through France, Holland, overnight stops, and wear and tear," he said.
"We go to 12 different places to drop things off at orphanages, poor villages, and homes of old people," he said,
Mr Young added: "People are under the impression that things have changed because they are in the EC now, but things haven't changed, and as far as the orphans are concerned there has been no change."
- Donations can be made to the North West Romanian Rind at 1A West Way, Londonderry, BT48 9NT or at Bank of Ireland. The charity number is X01443.
Cheques made out to the charity may also be sent to Mr Skelton at 10 Kevlin Glen, Omagh, BT78 1PG.