It is a picture familiar in parks across cities - laughing, squealing, running children enjoying the neighbourhood playground.
For Harrison Creevey, a trip to the playground and a seemingly innocuous mosquito bite left him a quadriplegic after he contracted Murray Valley Encephalitis.
He was three.
The once active now boy requires constant supervision and is reliant on other people for communication, mobility, food and bathing.
However at 16 Harrison and his father Matthew are now training to complete the 14-kilometre Brisbane Times City2South in June to raise funds for Harri's Hope - a charity created to advance Harrison's health, opportunity, potential and education.
“At the time Harrison got sick with the virus, he was the fourth reported case in Queensland between 1974 and 2001, and the only paediatric case,” Mr Creevey, Harrison's primary carer, said.
“There's been one or two cases since then in Queensland.”
Mr Creevey has spent seven years working through a brain recovery exercise program with Harrison and another six years on a core muscle program.
“In the last year to year-and-a-half we've started doing sporting wheelies and using electrical stimulation to strengthen his muscles so that it builds bone density,” Mr Creevey said.
Mr Creevey said the Creevey family had taken the challenges in its stride.
“It's turned our world upside down,” he said.
“I look at the positives. There's a lot we have learned, and other people have learned through meeting and knowing Harrison, about the virus and brain injury recovery.
“We want our kids to grow up happy healthy and to be able to choose what they want to do, and that's the same for Harrison.
“Whatever he wants to do is what I hope for him and I want to make that come true for him, just like I do for my other children.”
Currently, Harrison is making his family proud as a keen tenpin bowler.
Last September, he won a gold medal for the men's A-grade in the State Disabilities Championships and will compete again at the beginning of June.
“Tenpin bowling is something he took up two-and-a-half years ago and he's got a real flair for it," Mr Creevey said.
“He was selected earlier this year to be a representative of the Queensland team at the National Tenpin Bowling Tournament, so he'll be going to Hobart to compete as an individual and also in the Queensland team.”
Until then, Mr Creevey and his family will be training for the City2South fun run, taking place on June 15 and presented by Westpac.
Early bird entries close on Friday. More details are available on the website.
