Colchester United legends to reunite for charity match

Grace Beverton is one of just 80 people in the world who have what is referred to by scientists as RHOBTB2, which caused her life-threatening seizures when she was only five-months-old.

And her father, 33-year-old Dale Beverton, spends every waking hour fundraising when he's not working as a police officer.

Through the Hope for Grace fundraiser  which is part of the larger umbrella charity called Tree of Hope  Mr Beverton has raised £47,000, which goes towards a range of treatments and equipment to help young Grace's quality of life.

The next major fundraiser he has planned will see some of Colchester United's best-known players from recent years get together for a charity football match at Stanway Rovers Community Football Stadium, on Saturday, June 25.

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It is a fitting event for Mr Beverton, who grew up watching Colchester United at Layer Road  and he hopes names such as Karl Duguid, Jamie Cureton, Lomana LuaLua and Craig Fagan, will draw the crowds.

Tickets for the game, which will be a friendly contest between a Hope for Grace team and Karl Duguid's Colchester United legends, will cost £5 for adults and £2 for children.

Payments for the game are made at the gate.

Speaking about the fundraiser, Mr Beverton said he is hoping to make it an annual charity match, after almost stumbling upon the idea by accident last year.

He said: "My good friend's dad is the chairman of Stanway Rovers.

"Karl Duguid was the assistant at the time, and he said he wanted to do a game for Grace  and it just kind went from there."

Legend - Karl Duguid remains a fan favourite at Colchester United

Much of the money raised goes to special equipment for the youngster, who recently underwent a procedure at Great Ormond Street Hospital in February where her legs were broken and recast.

"Surgeons hope [the operation] would help with the curvature of the spine," Mr Beverton explained.

"We didn't realise how much pain she was in because she couldn't verbalise it  but since this operation she can push herself through therapy."

Mr Beverton also explained that much of the equipment for Grace, as it is so specific, can be prohibitively expensive without extra help.

Numerous treatments are also unavailable via the National Health Service.

"Grace has certain chairs which help her posture, but they can cost £5,000 a pop  as well as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and hydrotherapy," Mr Beverton said.

Teamwork – the Hope for Grace team at last year's charity match

"Me and my wife have realised that there's a lot of things she's going to need but we just don't know it yet.

"She might need walkers and frames  we hold hope that she might be able to walk one day."

Mr Beverton said although Grace can't talk, there have been developments which help her communicate with her parents.

"She verbalises now  she's not talking, but she is babbling like a baby, so she might need speech therapy.

"She's never vocalised things to us at all [before]  we try and repeat those noises back to her and it's incredible we are getting that feedback now.

"It's a bizarre adventure where things start popping up all over the place."

The Hope for Grace charity fundraiser is supported by Tree of Hope, which is a charity which helps parents fundraise for specialist care not available on the healthcare system.

Any donations can be made via: www.treeofhope.org.uk/grace-beverton/.