Kilmarnock family glad to be together at Christmas

Dec 26 2008 by Clair Fullarton, Kilmarnock Standard

Together for Christmas

CHRISTMAS is always a special time for families.

But one Kilmarnock clan is determined to make this year’s festivities the best yet.

The Gibson family of Bellfield are celebrating not just the festive season, but the fact their oldest son, Ross, 18, is still here to enjoy this special time of year with the whole family – mum Margo, little brother Mark, 15, and dad Tom.

For at one point this year Ross was gravely ill with serious head injuries in a Spanish hospital after plunging five floors from a hotel balcony – and his future was unclear.

Dad Tom said: “Ross has to be one of the luckiest boys in the world. Considering what happened to him in the summer he is doing really well.

“We are all really looking forward to Christmas this year, especially as last year Margo was ill with breast cancer, and now she’s doing better we’ve got two special reasons to celebrate.”

Ross was in a coma after the horror fall in Magaluf, but made a remarkably swift recovery, coming home just seven weeks after the accident.

And apart from losing the sight of one eye, Ross bears no real physical scars from the accident.

Tom added: “He’s almost back to normal now. He’s back at school and his part-time job and is starting to learn to drive.

“The only thing that’s frustrating him is his fitness levels, which have a bit to go before being back to normal yet.”

The family are acutely aware of how much they were held in people’s thoughts after the accident and are so grateful for all the donations to the Ross Gibson Fund, which was set up by Tom’s colleagues at Mahle (Glacier), and added to by the Killie Trust and the community at large. Many donations poured into the Kilmarnock Standard office.

Said Tom: “In the end we were presented with over £11,000, which has all gone on paying bills, like our accommodation and travel costs. It was a great sum to be given and although we’ve thanked as many of the people who donated as we can, there are others who we’ve never been able to reach.

“This is our chance to say thank you to each and every one of them. My wife and I were overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and we’d just like to wish everyone from all over Kilmarnock and the Irvine Valley who was looking out for us, a very merry Christmas and prosperous new year.

“Their kindness will never be forgotten by us at a time when we were at our lowest. Now we are looking forward to a much happier 2009.”

The Gibsons are still waiting to hear if their insurance company will cover £16,000 of bills they still have outstanding.

But they have already decided that if there is money left over after the insurance company pays up, they’d like to donate cash to the hospital in Magaluf and to Breast Cancer Care.