Dear Supporter
This Christmas I’d like to tell you about a couple of stars who have been in the limelight recently at the Paralympic Games.
Tahlia is a young Minjungbal woman who lives in Tweed Heads. Her dream came true when she became the first Aboriginal woman ever to represent Australia at the Paralympic Games. A star achievement at any age, but considering Tahlia has cerebral palsy and she is only 16 years old, this is truly inspirational.
As Tahlia said at a recent Paralympic Games event,
‘Don’t settle with the rest – stand out and be the best.’
Another of our stars, Katherine Proudfoot, indeed, did us proud. She is a talented track and field athlete and works as a speech pathologist at The Spastic Centre near Newcastle. Katherine was born with cerebral palsy.
Katherine competed in the discus and shot-put at the Paralympic Games this year and won a silver medal in the discus. She also competed in the 100 meter event at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
These two young people represent the rich diversity of The Spastic Centre family. We consider all our clients, families and staff to be stars.
You too can be a star … by being a star supporter.
You have always been a generous supporter of our work and we appreciate your ongoing dedication to children and adults with cerebral palsy. Please join with us to keep our stars shining brightly into the future by sending your special Christmas donation today.
Kind regards,
Rob White
Chief Executive Officer
PS We invite you to send your personal message and an extra gift in direct support of the vital work we do at The Spastic Centre. Your message and card will be displayed on our Christmas tree.
All donations received by 31 January will go into a draw to win an estate diamond ring kindly donated by a generous benefactor.
Donate now or download a print version of the appeal (
PDF - 730 KB)
Download your extra gift slip (PDF - 190 KB) and card (PDF - 610 KB)
Occupation: Speech pathologist
Employer: The Spastic Centre in Croudace Bay near Newcastle
Sport: Athletics – sprints and throws. Started competing late 2004
First Major event: 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games
Recent Event: 2008 Beijing Paralympics
Recent Results: 2nd in F36 disability classification Silver Medal 4th F36 Shot put
Extracts from an article by Shannon Dixon courtesy of Sport Shorts
A chance encounter in a Newcastle gym has seen Katherine Proudfoot go from a gym enthusiast to an international athlete and world record holder in less than 18 months.
It’s been a meteoric rise. “A couple of years ago I didn’t know much about Paralympic sport at all,” says Katherine, who now competes in athletics sprint and throws events under cerebral palsy classifications.
Katherine trains twice a day, six days a week- about 3 to 4 hours of training each day. In the morning she runs and does weights and in the evening works on throw technique and/or agym class.
She says “I do hydrotherapy once a week and work on my other skills my cerebral palsy makes hard, like hand skills for cutting with knives.”
Katherine competed in shot put and discus at the paralympic games and won a silver medal in discus. She also won a silver medal in shot put and 2 bronze medals in discus and the 100 metre event at the International Paralympic Committee World Athletics championships in 2006. In 2006 she also came 5th in the 100m when she competed two disability classes above her classification at the Commonwealth games in Melbourne.
For Katherine, competing is all about challenge and friendships. We are proud to say that Katherine is just another Shining Star at The Spastic Centre.
