The Gravesend community will come alive this weekend when hundreds of people converge on the town for the Gravesend Charity Campdraft, all to support local man Andrew 'Red' McClymont and his family.
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It's the first time a campdraft has been held in Gravesend for at least 20 years, and one of the few to be held around the region this year due to a lack of cattle available because of the drought. As a result, the committee was inundated with 1100 nominations, but unfortunately could only take 550 entrants.
"Because of the drought, no-one's got any cattle and if they do, they aren't strong enough to be chased around or trucked," Gravesend Charity Campdraft president Dan Coulton said. "We were lucky enough to have cattle donated but we've had to limit our runs down to cater for the cattle we've got. We tried our very best to take as many people as we could - we tried to take all local entries and kids, and anyone else we could after that."
The two-day campdraft, set for November 2 and 3, will raise much needed funds for Gravesend father Red McClymont, who is currently in Tamworth undergoing rehabilitation to re-learn to walk and re-gain control of his body after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Despite making good progress during rehab, Red recently suffered another set-back.
"He relapsed and lost his fine motor skills, balance and walking," Red's mother Andrea McClymont said.
"His muscles wasted away. He'd lost everything he had spent weeks regaining."
Red has since been diagnosed with CIDP (chronic inflammatory demyialating polynueropathy), on top of the GBS, which affects a person's ability to move, as well as their sensory functions, leading to tingling and numbness. This significantly reduces Red's odds of a full recovery.
With Red facing years of rehab and hospital visits, and wife Ellie-May not working while she supports his recovery, the Gravesend, Warialda and Moree communities have rallied behind him and his young family, doing what they can to make life a little easier.
One hundred per cent of profits raised at the Gravesend Charity Campdraft will go to the McClymont family.
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Dan said the committee has had a "huge amount of support" from the community.
"Gravesend's like that; everyone chips in to help, and they want to help Red," he said.
"He's going to have ongoing medical treatment for years and years so it's really cool we can help him out."
All the action will get underway from 9am on Saturday. On Saturday night there'll be a roast dinner, bar and live music by Mark Colley from Glen Innes.