Nathan Laporte receives R20,000 from Pure FM |03 March 2018

In liaison with the Make A Child Smile campaign, Pure FM has raised R20,000 through a radio road show held recently at Eden Island to fund four-year-old Nathan Laporte’s medical treatment.

The funds were recently presented to Nathan’s parents – Diana Bouchereau and Jean Yves Laporte -- at the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) conference room, Orion Mall, in the presence of Ceps’ chief executive Michel Pierre, Pure FM representatives and Make A Child Smile representative Clifford Mondon.

Nathan suffers from cystic fibrosis with pulmonary manifestation and so far there is no cure for the disease.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder that does not only affect the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. This includes difficulties in breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections.

Nathan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at five months old and it normally takes over eight years to wait for a donor for a kidney transplant.

He occasionally needs special treatment and recently his condition deteriorated and the antibiotics he was taking were not having any effect on him. As a result, he is now required to travel to South Africa every four months, with his next trip scheduled for April this year.

Pure FM sales manager Giselle Pucheokchuen said that 2018 will be a year where the radio station would like to give more to the community and in doing so, they chose Nathan as the first recipient.

“Giving back to him has been fulfilling for the organisation and Pure FM is honoured to have been able to help Nathan and we thank all who have donated towards this worthy cause,” she said.

Pure FM’s assistant sales manager, Nelson Esparon, described as successful the three-day outdoor live broadcast which coincided with Valentine’s Day.

“We shared Nathan’s story on air and encouraged the public to donate towards this worthy cause. The radio road show also served as an opportunity for the listeners to interact with the Pure FM team thus resulting in some R20,000 being raised,” he said.

Mr Esparon added that Pure FM had plans to support other similar projects under Make A Child Smile campaign in the future.

On her part, Nathan’s mother, Diana, thanked the Pure FM team as well as everyone who came down to Eden Island to donate towards Nathan’s cause.

“On his next medical treatment trip to South Africa in April, Nathan will be getting a peg tube attached to his belly button for him to feed from, so the Pure FM funds will surely be of great assistance,” she added.