As the saying goes, they breed kids tough in the bush.
11-year-old Chloe Norris has displayed a fine example of courage and determination after selling her beloved mare, Faith, in an online auction to raise money for her mother’s rehabilitation.
Kylie Norris suffered life threatening injuries after being kicked in the head by a horse just before Christmas, 2015.
Mrs Norris very recently woke from a deep coma and is beginning the slow, expensive process of regaining control of her mind and body.
Mrs Norris’ mother, Rae Earl, said her granddaughter’s decision to sell her favourite horse was made with great consideration.
“She was never a kid that was hid from anything so she’s been in Brisbane with the family since Christmas,” she said.
“Chloe thought and thought about what she could do and one day piped up and told us she wanted to sell Faith.
“She said she wasn’t going to be able to ride Faith now her mum was in Brisbane and she wanted to get more money to help Kylie.”
If Miss Norris’ thoughtfulness wasn’t enough to melt hearts, the combined effort of a small group of family friends, fellow distance education contacts and generous donors to secretly place a syndicate bid on Faith and gift her back to Chloe.
The syndicate was successful in buying back Faith and exceeded the target of $10,000 to raise a total of $27,500 from 86 pledges.
Ms Earl said Chloe was a modest, easy going girl who loved the bush just like her mother.
“She’s 11 going on 40. She loves her horses and she could load a horse and bike onto a trailer when she was four,” she said.
“It’s a good rural life, it teaches resilience.”
Ms Earl said she could not thank people enough for their generous donations.
“So many bush people are so giving and loving and most of the people who donated are hurting themselves,” she said.
“Our target when we set up the website was $20,000 and we met that in less than 24 hours.
“Before the auction of Faith we’d raised $76,000 in 14 days from people we know and others we don’t, such as an anonymous donation of $10,000 that came from interstate.”
Ms Earl said Chloe was ecstatic Faith remained hers and the money raised was a great representation of generosity - a perfect outcome all thanks to one girl’s selflessness and a combined commitment to keeping faith.
