The fund to help little Joe Smith communicate with the outside world today stands at almost £3,000.

An Oxford supermarket yesterday added to that total by offering to sponsor the disabled four-and-a-half-year-old over the next 12 months.

The help came from the Sainsbury store in Heyford Hill, and will mount up to several hundred pounds a month.

And in addition to that, Oxford Computer Company, Headington, is to donate a computer which means the fund money can be spent to help Joe, of Greater Leys, Oxford, in other ways. Director of the computer company, Dave Bellcourt, said: "We will be more than pleased to help. The software is specialised so we can't provide that but it must be based on a standard computer which we are happy to donate."

This means the Smiths will be able to afford more software and may even get a specialist programme written for Joe.

If there is any money left over the Aidis Trust has suggested keeping it aside until Joe is a bit older, to buy him new equipment as and when he needs it.

His parents would also like more respite care to give them a break now and again. If you have missed the appeal so far, little Joe Smith is paralysed and breathes through a respirator and ventilator machine. His parents gave up their jobs to care for him 24 hours a day.

The wave of emotion this appeal has caused has bowled us all over in the offices of This Is Oxfordshire and the Oxford Mail. Many people who phoned in were in tears after reading little Joe's story.

One pensioner also had a grandson called Joe Smith and was very choked up about little Joe's condition.

Another caller said the Oxford Mail had really come up trumps by running this appeal. "It's what a local paper is all about," she said.

We've learned to live a normal life

When Sam and Danny waved goodbye to their brother he was a healthy ten-month-old baby, writes Katherine MacAlister. The next time they saw Joe, he was paralysed and needed a machine to help him breathe.

The dramatic effect this had on their lives was only resolved when they went to see counsellors.

Mother Wendy explained: "The boys were scarred by what happened. Lots of children blame themselves when something goes wrong, and I think they did, until we explained it had nothing to do with them."

But now, four years later, when you see Sam and Danny, now 11 and nine, run in from school and sit by Joe's bed, telling him all about their day, you can see that the trauma has long since disappeared. The Smiths, of Greater Leys, Oxford, are still fighting for compensation from the John Radcliffe Hospital. In the meantime, Pete and Wendy have fought just as hard to keep their whole family unit together and as happy as possible.

"We were determined that we wouldn't spend so much time looking after Joe that the other children weren't happy," said Wendy.

But it's been a long hard road getting there - and there's another child, Rachel, now two, as well.

"Rachel was one of life's little gifts. Lots of people thought we were mad having another one but she was born exactly a year after Joe's incident and we knew she was meant to be. The pregnancy was fine and I gave birth at home,'' said Wendy. Wendy and Pete's attachment to one another is obvious, but Wendy said that when Joe first got back from hospital, they felt totally isolated and alone. "We were learning all the time how to cope and didn't like leaving one another," she said.

That soon passed but Wendy admits Joe's disabilities have meant the other children suffered.

"The boys missed me but I think they understood and were very good about it, although they did become quite withdrawn," she said. But, it was not until Joe returned home that the trouble started. "Pete and I had so many emotions, that we had pushed down, which started to come out - so much anger. The boys started having really bad nightmares, so our community nurse recommended counselling, and someone would come once a week to talk to us together about what had happened we. The boys also went to play therapy," she added.

Wendy and Pete obviously have less on their hands than they used to. To start with, Sam and Danny were taken out by friends, but now they are more independent and have their own social lives.

"There must be moments when they resent Joe because of the amount of time we have to spend with him," she said.

Rachel goes to a friend's house once a week to play. "It hasn't been so hard for her because she grew up with all the machinery and Joe like he is," Wendy said.

As for Wendy and Pete, they do not get out much, but perhaps with your help, they will be able to afford more respite care.

How you can help

Though we've already raised the £1,000 Joe and his family need, you may still like to help.

To make a donation, please send a cheque made payable to Aidis Trust for Joe Smith and send it to the Aidis Trust, 1 Albany Park, Cabot Lane, Poole, Dorset BH17 7BX.

Story date: Thursday 10 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.