Close to $580,000 has officially been handed over to a Tasmanian footballer who suffered a devastating spinal injury following the sale of a charity house in Cygnet, specially built and sold to support his recovery.
Former Cygnet Football Club player Ryan Wiggins suffered a C2 fracture to his spinal cord in a non-football-related incident in 2021, leaving him with quadriplegia and paralysed from the neck down.
Determined to support their team member, the club, community and several local companies came together to build the house from scratch to raise funds for Wiggins’ rehabilitation.
After being on the market for four months, the house was finally sold in April and on Saturday, Wiggins received a cheque from the sale proceeds.
“WOW WOW WOW,” the Cygnet Football Club wrote.
“What an amazing turn out yesterday … to present Ryan with a whopping $579,506.39!”
“Our community sure is an amazing one!”
“So many amazing helping hands went into making this happen! Including from our friends across the river, and also the wider Tasmanian community!”
The money raised from the house sale will go ‘a long way’ towards Wiggins’ rehabilitation and hopefully enable him to pursue other treatment options.
One of his aspirations is to seek international treatment, possibly in the United States, within the next year.
