Kleefstra Syndrome recently received its largest ever single donation. John and Mike, a couple who had been living together for many years, finally decided to tie the knot, and had a fantastic, fun-filled, Scottish wedding in May 2022. They invited 120 guests and asked them not for presents, but instead for donations towards two charities that were close to their heart, Macmillan, and KleefstraSyndrome.org.

They raised over £12,000 and presented KleefstraSyndrome.org with a donation of £6,750; the largest donation KleefstraSyndrome.org has ever received.

The Chair of KleefstraSyndrome.org, Wendy Hocking, said, “I opened the email from John but I didn’t believe it’s contents, I thought he had typed the number of 0’s wrong, or the comma in the wrong place. It’s an enormous amount of money for a small charity like us, I can’t thank them enough!”

Mike has a niece Carrie, who was diagnosed with a condition when she was about 2, and later on they found it was named Kleefstra Syndrome. She is a very chatty character, although her mobility is poor. Her Mum Irene, Mike’s sister, still supports Carrie daily. Mike visits every week, and shares colouring-in books and music with her.

She was the ring bearer at their wedding as she is such a character in their lives. Carrie recently celebrated her 21st birthday. On the page are some photos of John and Mike at their wedding, including one of Carrie.