Westville dad takes on Amashova race on a unicycle

A WESTVILLE father will take his love for his son and passion to promote an autism charity to a new level when he participates in the 106km Tsogo Sun Amashova Durban Classic race on a unicycle.

Thirty-seven-year-old Shaun Murphy and a friend will both be taking on the race for the first time on unicycles to raise funds for the Brown’s School, which Murphy’s adopted and autistic son attends. Murphy shared details about how his interest in the cause began, the projects he had embarked on thus far and his future plans.

“Eleven years ago, my wife and I adopted Nicholas from a safe haven in Johannesburg. At the time, he was a few months old and we did not detect any autism symptoms. As the years progressed, we noticed a delay in his growth and communication skills. We took him to a specialist who identified the symptoms and diagnosed him with autism. My wife and I were new to the parenting world so we immediately began conducting our own research to learn more about autism, what we needed to prepare for and expect when raising an autistic child.

“Nicolas started attending the Key School in Johannesburg six years ago and due to a lack of funding, the school was facing closure. This sparked the beginning of my partnership with the autism charity, AuSOMEtism. The charity was the brainchild of a teacher from the Key School for Specialised Education. The teacher, Pieter Kleynhans, wanted to raise awareness and let people know these children are awesome. I partnered with the cause, for which I am now the director, and decided to cycle from Johannesburg to Cape Town to raise awareness and funds for the school. I was joined by a few others and together we completed the ride via the Northern Cape for a total of around 2300km and managed to raise around R90 000 and held workshops along the way. Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep the doors of the school open. That was the starting point. Since then, I have participated in the Momentum 94.7 race in Johannesburg and the Cape Cycle Tour on a unicycle. After the Amashova race this year, I will also be participating in the Telkom 947. This is our flagship event for fundraising and awareness and will be our sixth one this year.”

Murphy, who said he was aware the course would be challenging, added, “Our mantra is different, not less. This phrase was coined by Dr Temple Grandin who is also autistic. We ride unicycles to show people that even though you do something differently, it certainly does not make you any less. You can still achieve the same results as everyone else, sometimes even better results. I believe riding a unicycle is also a great strategy to gain attention, create curiosity and spread the word about our AuSOMEtism cause. All funds raised through our initiatives are used to develop facilities and programmes that benefit autistic children.”

Beaming with pride and speaking with an abundance of love for his son, Murphy said, “Nic is the best. He has a dark sense of humour, he is super creative, emphatic and wears his heart on his sleeve. He enjoys sculpting dragons and dinosaurs with his play dough and possesses a great interest in anything that flies or can be flown.”

Murphy will be joined by his friend, Gray Braatvedt, and through the Amashova race, they aim to raise funds for the Brown’s School’s autism wing. Murphy also intends building an adult centre to cater for adults with autism in the future. Murphy and Braatvedt are gearing up for the race on 16 October and encourage residents to support their cause.

If you would like to support the cause, contact Shaun Murphy on 083 264 9592, email shaun@auSOMEtism.co.za or make a donation into the following account: Account name: Ausometism NPC, bank: Standard Bank, branch code: 001106, account number: 372 840 175

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