Team Isabella Lombardo
Donation protected
Isabella is a brave little 5 year old girl and we want her to be able to do anything she wants in life!
Right now Isabella needs intense physiotherapy 5 days a week to keep her on the path to walking.
$79,288 will enable Isaballa to have the specialised physio that she needs this year.
Her therapy takes 1.5 hours per day and costs $175 per hour (the rate is set by the Australian government - so expensive!)
This adds up to $1,312 per week or $64,288 this year.
In addition, we are travelling to the USA in July to spend 3 weeks with an ex-olympic strength training coach who specialises in getting children like Isabella walking.
This trip will cost roughly $15,000.
OUR GOAL is $64,288 + $15,000 = $79,288
We have already spent over $100,000 on life changing surgery, called Selective Doral Rhyzotomy (SDR,) at St Louis Children’s hospital in the USA.
BUT, without this daily therapy, the money we have spent on the surgery will go to waste.
If you can, please help Isabella reach her full potential by donating.
Every dollar makes a difference for this little girl, so any donation no matter how small is forever appreciated.
We wish we did not have to raise money like this, however, the governement funding scheme NDIS has not approved any funding for Isabella this year and we cannot afford the level of treatment she needs as well as all of the other expenses to keep her moving forward in hopes of her walking.
We are trying to help other families in our situation by sharing our experience and knowledge and hopefully inspiring some by showing that there are others who know the struggles and the triumphs of having a special needs child.
We intend to do more media like TV and magazines and we hope to have a documentary that helps others understand and benefit from our experiences.
Follow Isabella on Instagram and share her journey:
https://www.instagram.com/teamisabellalombardo/
Follow Isabella on Facebook and share her journey:
https://www.facebook.com/teamisabellalombardo/
Our Story
Isabella was born perfectly healthy (we thought), but when she was 3 months old we noticed her muscles where not so strong and were not working the way that they should.
As the months went by she exhibited symptoms such as stiff muscles and difficulty in sitting, standing or moving by herself. We had to face a terrifying new reality – our daughter had a debilitating condition called spastic cerebral palsy: which causes tense, rigid muscles in her arms and legs. Imagine having your calf muscles tensed up 24 hours a day for the next 50 years...this is just one of the muscles that what was preventing Isabella from being able to gain the control to walk or move around like other kids
After 2 years of intense physiotherapy and painful ongoing botox injections to help her muscles relax at 3 and 4-years old, she still couldn't walk, stand or move independently. It became so painful as a parent for us to see Isabella struggle like this and for her to see other kids doing everything. We knew Isabella was longing to spread her wings too.
Isabella requires full time care and assistance - with extra adults pitching in – a hard physical journey that comes with lashings of love on top. We have gone through many things to try to help her along the way with Botox injections, feet braces, body suits, daily intensive therapy, hydrotherapy and the list goes on.
While there is no cure for her condition, last year we successfully completed a surgical procedure that changed our lives, SDR (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) with Dr Park at the St louis Children’s Hospital in the USA..
This surgery effectively ‘switched on’ Isabella’s good nerves and permanently cut off her bad ones, it took away the terrible spasticity and muscle rigidity that affected her legs.
The surgery has been truly life changing! Before surgery, Isabella was mostly confined to a wheelchair and her leg muscles caused her pain, NOW after the surgery, she is literally running in her walker and she continues to improve - she is on her way to taking independent steps! While we still have a big mountain to climb, this mountain is now so much brighter.
It was mind blowing to us that when we reached out to the fundraising community that people donated to our cause to help us along our way.
For the last 5 years we have invested over $250,000 of our funds into therapy, equipment and surgeries in the bid to help a bright little girl gain physical independence like other kids.
But sometimes it’s just not enough. The donations we received were literally the difference between getting the green light on the operation and not being able to go ahead. We were touched beyond belief at the essential kindness of people, some of whom we had never even met.
While we are able to fund some of the cost, we have still have many other costs to consider along the journey.
We would give literally anything to take this burden away from our daughter, but what we can do right now is work with the medical technology of today, which is already such a gift, and give her the best chance we can of a pain free life and independent movement and walking.
Friends, we are reaching out to whoever feels called to support our endeavours in any way they can, no matter how small.
Our daughter has a plucky, happy spirit, even though she has spent her childhood in an electric wheelchair or walker. We know that the surgery gave her a new lease on life and are now ready to see the journey through.
We do need help to climb this next mountain and words can't express our gratitude for your help!

Right now Isabella needs intense physiotherapy 5 days a week to keep her on the path to walking.
$79,288 will enable Isaballa to have the specialised physio that she needs this year.
Her therapy takes 1.5 hours per day and costs $175 per hour (the rate is set by the Australian government - so expensive!)
This adds up to $1,312 per week or $64,288 this year.
In addition, we are travelling to the USA in July to spend 3 weeks with an ex-olympic strength training coach who specialises in getting children like Isabella walking.
This trip will cost roughly $15,000.
OUR GOAL is $64,288 + $15,000 = $79,288
We have already spent over $100,000 on life changing surgery, called Selective Doral Rhyzotomy (SDR,) at St Louis Children’s hospital in the USA.
BUT, without this daily therapy, the money we have spent on the surgery will go to waste.
If you can, please help Isabella reach her full potential by donating.
Every dollar makes a difference for this little girl, so any donation no matter how small is forever appreciated.
We wish we did not have to raise money like this, however, the governement funding scheme NDIS has not approved any funding for Isabella this year and we cannot afford the level of treatment she needs as well as all of the other expenses to keep her moving forward in hopes of her walking.
We are trying to help other families in our situation by sharing our experience and knowledge and hopefully inspiring some by showing that there are others who know the struggles and the triumphs of having a special needs child.
We intend to do more media like TV and magazines and we hope to have a documentary that helps others understand and benefit from our experiences.
Follow Isabella on Instagram and share her journey:
https://www.instagram.com/teamisabellalombardo/
Follow Isabella on Facebook and share her journey:
https://www.facebook.com/teamisabellalombardo/
Our Story
Isabella was born perfectly healthy (we thought), but when she was 3 months old we noticed her muscles where not so strong and were not working the way that they should.
As the months went by she exhibited symptoms such as stiff muscles and difficulty in sitting, standing or moving by herself. We had to face a terrifying new reality – our daughter had a debilitating condition called spastic cerebral palsy: which causes tense, rigid muscles in her arms and legs. Imagine having your calf muscles tensed up 24 hours a day for the next 50 years...this is just one of the muscles that what was preventing Isabella from being able to gain the control to walk or move around like other kids
After 2 years of intense physiotherapy and painful ongoing botox injections to help her muscles relax at 3 and 4-years old, she still couldn't walk, stand or move independently. It became so painful as a parent for us to see Isabella struggle like this and for her to see other kids doing everything. We knew Isabella was longing to spread her wings too.
Isabella requires full time care and assistance - with extra adults pitching in – a hard physical journey that comes with lashings of love on top. We have gone through many things to try to help her along the way with Botox injections, feet braces, body suits, daily intensive therapy, hydrotherapy and the list goes on.
While there is no cure for her condition, last year we successfully completed a surgical procedure that changed our lives, SDR (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) with Dr Park at the St louis Children’s Hospital in the USA..
This surgery effectively ‘switched on’ Isabella’s good nerves and permanently cut off her bad ones, it took away the terrible spasticity and muscle rigidity that affected her legs.
The surgery has been truly life changing! Before surgery, Isabella was mostly confined to a wheelchair and her leg muscles caused her pain, NOW after the surgery, she is literally running in her walker and she continues to improve - she is on her way to taking independent steps! While we still have a big mountain to climb, this mountain is now so much brighter.
It was mind blowing to us that when we reached out to the fundraising community that people donated to our cause to help us along our way.
For the last 5 years we have invested over $250,000 of our funds into therapy, equipment and surgeries in the bid to help a bright little girl gain physical independence like other kids.
But sometimes it’s just not enough. The donations we received were literally the difference between getting the green light on the operation and not being able to go ahead. We were touched beyond belief at the essential kindness of people, some of whom we had never even met.
While we are able to fund some of the cost, we have still have many other costs to consider along the journey.
We would give literally anything to take this burden away from our daughter, but what we can do right now is work with the medical technology of today, which is already such a gift, and give her the best chance we can of a pain free life and independent movement and walking.
Friends, we are reaching out to whoever feels called to support our endeavours in any way they can, no matter how small.
Our daughter has a plucky, happy spirit, even though she has spent her childhood in an electric wheelchair or walker. We know that the surgery gave her a new lease on life and are now ready to see the journey through.
We do need help to climb this next mountain and words can't express our gratitude for your help!
Organizer
Isabella Lombardo
Organizer
Chatswood NSW
