The rugby league community is hoping to raise $100,000 to help around Joseph Pouniu and family with his recovering from a serious spinal injury.
With almost $60,000 already contributed thanks to the extraordinary generosity shown through donations via a dedicated GoFundMe page, all funds will go a long way to support the 17-year-old and his family on his road to recovery.
Joseph's mum Nuseta was full of praise for the immense support of her son over the past month.
"We would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to the many, many people who have reached out to our family, sent thoughtful messages, and visited Joe in the hospital," she said.
"Over the past few weeks as our family dealt with our son’s tragic accident, the outpouring of support we have received from the wider community has been overwhelming.
"We have felt your love for our Joe and we know we have an army praying for Joe and our family. The prayers of so many are truly sustaining us through heartache, uncertainty, and grief.
"Your prayers have been the biggest comfort to us, and they will continue to help us and Joe during these difficult times and the long journey, and the challenges he is enduring."
Undergoing immediate surgery to stabilise his neck and reattach his C4 and C5 to his spine after leaving the field in the Future Titans' Under 17 pre-season trial against the Broncos, the young forward has shown promising signs of progress since his operation, with more and more growth every day.
"Joe is still in the orthopaedic trauma unit; however, the team of nurses and physios at his ward are fantastic and they’re taking very good care of Joe," Nuseta said.
"He has already started some of his rehabilitation and he is making good progress, seeing improvements each day. He has started sitting up in a wheelchair and does an hour or so every day. His timing sitting up is slowly increasing day by day, which is a huge improvement in such a short period of time. He has also got his appetite back and is eating well.
"Joe is now in his second week without the use of oxygen machines and is breathing on his own but is still very fatigued at times from all the medications he’s on, especially after his physio exercises.
"He has some movement and little sensation on his left arm, but not so much on his right arm. He has started to get tingling in his legs - pins and needles every now and then; however, he still has no movement or sensation from the waist down.
"We are relaying all your thoughtful messages to Joe daily and talking to him."
The support and fundraising effort is set to continue with a number of initiatives at Titans home games this season - starting next Saturday, March 18 when the Gold Coast face Melbourne at Cbus Super Stadium - as well as the dedicated GoFundMe page continuing to remain open for those to contribute to Joseph's recovery.
Match: Titans v Storm
Round 3 -
home Team
Titans
5th Position
away Team
Storm
13th Position
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
"Words cannot adequately express the depth of our gratitude and love for all the support, concern, and financial contributions offered to Joe and we sincerely apologise that we are unable to personally thank everyone for their generosity," Nuseta said.
"To everyone who has taken time out of their schedule to read Joe’s story, shared his GoFundMe and donated individually or as a family or club... thank you!
"To all the rugby league clubs, businesses, organisations, our St Eugene and CTK school community and parish community as well as the wider community that have kindly donated or have held and continue to hold fundraisers to raise funds for Joe, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
"We are very humbled and we’re forever so grateful. We find strength in knowing our Joe is loved by so many people in the wider community.
"We kindly ask for your continued prayers and to please pray to bless his body - that his blood and body remains healthy and clean and rejects any infection."
