Jaaden Abraham inspires Beautiful Crazy charity delivering ICU care packages

ABC NEWS (Australia)

One Queensland family has used the tragic death of its son to start a charity that provides care packages to those who have loved ones in the ICU. It was this time last year Ross and Kathy Abraham lost their 31-year-old son in an e-bike crash in Byron Bay.

Transcript

00:00It's almost a year to the day that Ross and Kathy Abraham got a knock on the door from

00:06police in the early hours of the morning to tell them their son Jaden had been in a serious

00:11e-bike accident.

00:12The 31-year-old Byron Bay tradie hit the curb and came off his bike, suffering a catastrophic

00:18brain injury and was airlifted to the Gold Coast University Hospital in a critical condition.

00:23His family rushed to the intensive care unit and didn't leave Jaden's side for four days

00:29when he passed away.

00:31During their stay in hospital, one of their friends dropped off a laundry basket full of

00:34essential supplies.

00:36The small gesture had a lasting impact and prompted them to start a charity, Beautiful Crazy, which

00:42provides care packages for families going through a similar ordeal.

00:46The care bags include water, a blanket, a toothbrush, toothpaste, pain relief medication, lip balm,

00:53wet wipes and snacks.

00:55It's not much, but the creature comforts are one less thing to worry about at a time of

00:59immense heartbreak and stress.

01:01For me, I'll never forget, I think it was day two, just having a splitting headache and

01:06you're actually making or trying to make end of life decisions and you just feel terrible

01:12and couldn't get Nurofen, couldn't get Panadol.

01:16It's like a hug in a bag is the best way to put it.

01:20People that are just in their deepest grief receiving something tangible, that doesn't

01:26take away the pain, it doesn't take away the loss, but it just helps them to be seen in

01:30those moments.

01:31The charity currently provides care bags to six hospitals, but the ultimate goal is to supply

01:36every major ICU in the country.

01:39To make that possible, Ross is embarking on a month-long 4,300-kilometre off-road mountain

01:45bike ride from Perth to Byron Bay to raise $258,000.

01:51That's enough for 4,300 care bags, one for every kilometre of the journey.

01:56Mr Abraham has called the Endurance Challenge the longest ride and hopes it will capture the

02:01country's attention and make his son proud.

02:04He would be cheering us on because he was a fan of Ned Brockman and Ned Brockman, as we

02:09know, ran across Australia a few years ago and so we're pretty sure that Jaden would be

02:13cheering me on and he could think of nothing better than putting me through more pain because

02:17of him.

02:18The solo ride will take him from the dusty red back roads of the outback to a small cross

02:23on the side of the road where Jaden lost his life.

02:26It's a journey he's likened to his long and winding road with grief.

02:31To be continued...

02:47To be continued...

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