A heifer named Hilda is the top prize in a raffle to support a Roscommon family whose three boys are living with a life-limiting illness.

Archie (16) and twins George and Isaac (11) Naughton live with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is a catastrophic muscle-wasting disease that primarily affects boys.

Archie, George, and Isaac are all paralysed and in wheelchairs and are now struggling to use their arms.

Archie, George and Isaac, with Hilda, Martin Travers and Val Keane

Since December 6, Join our Boys Trust has raised close to €150,000 of a €300,000 target required for the completion of a purpose-built home for the Naughton boys.

Join our Boys Trust was set up in 2014 and is dedicated to raising awareness of DMD, supporting the practical needs of Archie, George and Isaac, and supporting research projects that aim to provide treatments and eventually a cure.

The house itself – owned by the Trust – has already been built and is located in Roscommon town, but the additional funding is required required to fully kit out the property with the equipment needed to ensure the boys’ complex needs are adequately met.

This includes a ceiling hoist, automated doors, specialised beds, a therapy area, specialist IT equipment, specialist toilets, landscaping, a road, and many other things.

Parents Paula and Padraic Naughton have issued their heartfelt thanks for the overwhelming public and business support, so far, for their sons.

And the latest group to add to that support is Elphin GAA Club, in Co. Roscommon, through its annual fundraising raffle.

Hilda the heifer is the star prize in the club’s annual raffle so to be in with a chance of bringing Hilda home, while supporting a most deserving cause, please purchase a ticket here

Until 6pm on Friday, December 31, all online tickets sales for the club’s bonanza raffle, will be donated to the Join Our Boys Trust, specifically towards the house-completion project for Archie, George, and Isaac.