The Belly Up in Solana Beach will host a charity fundraiser on Saturday, April 10, for Spencer Fox, a Cardiff resident and Oak Crest Middle School eighth grader who was seriously injured in a snowboarding accident February 1 in Brighton, Utah, while on a trip with his mother, Celia Brewer.
The Belly Up is located at 143 South Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach. The fundraiser is scheduled from 4:15-7pm, and will feature musical talents. The Swinging Kings, the Beautiful Beasts, and DJ Shiny Boots & Thangs. Brewer’s twin brother, Jake Brewer, will be joining the performances as well as Fox’s brother, Dane. The event will feature a silent auction as well as the chance to donate directly to the Spencer Fox fund.
Thirteen-year-old Fox was on a cat track wearing a helmet when the accident occurred. It was a bright, sunny day. Unable to see a bump, Fox caught an edge, catapulting him into an icy snow bank. He suffered a severe spinal cord injury, shattering his C-4 and C-5 vertebrae. Life Flight airlifted him off the mountain; paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. Fox and Brewer were joined by his father, Vincent Fox. More than four weeks were spent at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
On March 4, Fox was flown by Life Flight to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. He remains on a ventilator and has a tracheostomy. Each day he is experiencing small but incremental return of sensation and movement.
The family faces not only the challenge of helping Fox recover from his accident, but also the enormous financial hardship created by the extensive medical and rehabilitation care necessary to treat a severe spinal cord injury. Many of these expenses are not covered by insurance, including long-term rehabilitation services, transportation needs, and home modifications.
In addition to the April 10 fundraiser, a fundraising campaign in Spencer’s honor has been established with the NTAF Southwest Spinal Cord Injury Fund to help the family with uninsured injury-related expenses. NTAF is a nonprofit that has been assisting transplant and catastrophic injury patients with fundraising for over 26 years. Donations are tax-deductible and are administered by NTAF for injury-related expenses only. Donations can be made to: “NTAF Southwest Spinal Cord Injury Fund” with a note in the memo section: “In Honor of Spencer Fox.” Mail to: 150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120, Radnor, PA 19087. For credit card donations, please call 800/642-8399 or visit www.ntafund.org and enter “Spencer Fox” in the patient box on the NTAF homepage.
To read Spencer’s story, visit his CaringBridge blog at: www.caringbridge.org/visit/spencerfox. For more information, please ontact Celia Brewer at 760/805-5914 or Kaye Hentschke at 858/794-8688.
