Roy Jewitt is the type of man who would do something for someone else before worrying about himself.
Highly respected on the football field as a player and coach and well-known in the community, Roy has been fundraising for others in many ways and more recently to raise money via a 24 hour rowing challenge and an ice bath challenge. The Twin Town Times and The Young News covered Roy’s efforts this year in both fundraisers.
He told the paper at the time, “On the rowing fundraiser for MND we raised $30,000 in a joint effort with people at NRG Fitness and a lot of other people jumped on board and the town and the people in the town jumped on board, it was absolutely incredible. Even people overseas, Kevin Sinfield and Barry McDermott and Paul Schofield (famous footy names) and Adrian Morley jumped on board as well. It was just so good. It was really fantastic.”
When he undertook the ice bath challenge at Golden Glance Nursery in August he said, “Basically what it is is people all around Australia taking ice baths or swims in the ocean or wherever they can get in cold water, so we put the question on Facebook if anyone had a nice clean dam that we could use and Golden Glen said we could use their dam and we have locked in the day for Sunday, August 18, 8.30am to 2pm, and people have been donating money to the cause and we are asking people to come up and maybe have a dip or have a cup of tea and it would be great to get people to come along and those who have had family that have been affected by cancer, and show them some support.”
Support is what Roy now needs.
Roy has suffered a very serious stroke and the community is now rallying around him, hoping for a recovery and a positive outcome for the Englishman who has made Young his home for more than 20 years.
A Go Fund Me Page was set up four days ago and the love is pouring in, with funds to go towards his recovery and any other needs his family may have. It is called Roy Jewitt Road to Recovery.
It states, “On behalf of Erika and the Jewitt Family, I kindly ask for your support during this tough and unexpected time. Roy is a happy, healthy and compassionate man, who has done so much for the community of Young and beyond. He has raised many funds for MND and cancer council as well as volunteered his time and effort to local junior and senior sporting teams over the years and supported many families during their own difficult times.
Roy is an extremely fit, kind and healthy man and his incredible efforts do not go unnoticed.
However, on the 24th of October, Thursday evening – after a normal day including a gym session, Roy was at home and suffered a severe stroke. Erika was home and rang the ambulance straight away and he was taken straight to Wagga. From Wagga they discovered he had indeed suffered a major stroke and also dangerous clots elsewhere so was transferred to Canberra for surgery. He is currently in ICU suffering right side paralysis and an inability to speak. The path ahead is unsure but he will need to learn to talk and walk when he’s well enough and a lengthy hospital stay ahead to do rehab. The future is unsure and he will have a long road ahead of him, and whether he will be able to return to his personal building business.
I kindly ask for your support during this difficult time on behalf of Erika and Roy’s 4 Boys. Any donation is heavily appreciated and will go far in Roy’s recovery and the journey ahead of him.
We are thinking of you Roy and wish you a safe recovery. The support and compassion you have showed other people, organisations and families are forever appreciate by many and it’s time for our beautiful community to give back and do the same for you.”
If you can, get online and help Roy and his family out. We all know Roy would do it for you.
Young News caught up with Roy’s close friend and former team mate Nick Hall. Nick was devastated at the news and spoke highly of Roy and how he has been such an inspiration to him and others.
“It’s awful in a guy who is healthy, he’s fit, does what he has to do, does beyond what he has to do, contributes to society, to community, he’s been an agitator (in a good way) and an instigator as far as communities go.”
“I can’t understand it. It’s not fair.”
“As a coach he’s a passionate man about the game. It was one of his first loves. It brought him to Australia. He loves rugby league.”
“He gets involved as a player, as a coach, as a mentor, he helps kids, he does all these sorts of things. He’s one of those guys where if you have two kids struggling in a team, he will shift a lot of the focus to them and make sure they get it and make sure the other players are helping that person and learning from the experience. He’s about team, but also weirdly he’s very competitive and very into performance and getting the most out of yourself.
He holds himself to really high standards, which has showed when he does things like the Rowing Challenge for MND. That was amazing. He loves those sort of challenges, giving himself something to really grit his teeth into.”
“You can see he’s touched a lot of people as it was up to $30K in a day and at 40 something now.”