Samuel Morris was a bright and happy cuddly little two year old until 9th April 2006 when he had a near drowning in the families backyard pool.

Through the extraordinary efforts of Samuel's mum, his neighbours Les and Shirley, an unknown passerby, A platoon at Cranebrook Fire Station, Maggie and Haydon from the NSW Ambulance Service and the Emergency Department team at Nepean Hospital Samuel survived this tragic accident.

After a short time at Nepean Hospital he was transported to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Childrens Hospital at Westmead where he remained on life support for several days. After nine days in PICU he was moved to the Hunter Baillie Ward where he stayed for four months. During this time Samuel received first class nursing care and intensive therapy from the Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Neurology and Brain Injury teams.

Unfortunately as a result of this accident Samuel experienced a severe Hypoxic Brain Injury and was left with a range of severe disabilities.

Samuel's disabilities have meant that he has required a range of equipment and ongoing therapy. Most of the equipment that Samuel and children like him need is VERY expensive and the waiting lists to receive this equipment can be up to two years long.

Samuel's dad is a member of the New South Wales Fire Brigades (NSWFB) and in the true spirit of the fire brigade family members of the NSWFB rallied around, supported by members of the other emergency services and some local bus plugins/editors/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/<script type="> langs/en.js" type="text/javascript"> inesses in the Penrith area. These efforts raised a significant amount of money to provide the equipment that Samuel has needed.

Samuel has been very fortunate to have had such incredible community support that has truly made a difference to him and his family.

We believe that no child should have to wait up to two years for equipment that is essential to their care and quality of life. So with the continued support of NSW Firefighters, members of the other emergency services and some businesses the Samuel Morris Foundation was established with these initial aims:

• providing aids and equipment relevant to the childs disabilities
• fostering research into the treatment and outcomes of children with hypoxic brain injuries and associated disabilities
• providing assistance and services to assist families in the care and/or treatment of their disabled children
• contributing to the prevention of future drowning in toddlers