Aliya's Road to Recovery

About Aliya:

Aliya is a young teenage girl suffering from debilitating musculoskeletal pain in her lower back, hips, and legs. The doctors have termed it "amplified pain syndrome" as there is no specific, organic cause that they've been able to identify, despite multiple MRIs, ultrasounds, x-rays, blood tests, and physical examinations.  She's been in a wheelchair since March 2018 and has spent five weeks in Monash Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Here's a short (one-minute) video that shows her condition and therapy a bit better:


Her back and legs/knees/feet are in constant pain and extremely sensitive to touch. Moving or standing is almost unbearable. In addition, she can't sit upright for more than an hour or so without needing to recline and rest, limiting her to only one or two classes at school per day.

Before March 2018, she was a normal, outgoing, active teenager who had been playing basketball since first grade. She loves music, especially singing and playing piano and ukulele. As her condition worsened she's had to give up basketball, singing lessons, sleepovers with friends and all schools sports and PE. She was so disappointed when she went into hospital a few days before her audition for the school musical. She also loves animals, and has been a vegetarian since September 2017.

Treatment Program:

Aliya is currently being treated via an out-patient rehabilitation program at Monash Children's Hospital, which includes physical therapy at the hospital twice a week.  Her family supplements this with hydrotherapy several times a week. Aliya also exercises daily on a stationary bike and does strength exercises at home.

Despite her efforts and hard work, she's no closer to getting out of her wheelchair, and the prognosis for these types of cases gets worse as time passes. That is, the longer she's in the wheelchair, the more challenging her recovery will be.

Aliya's wonderful doctors at Monash Children's Hospital told the family about the intensive, pediatric treatment and rehabilitation programs available in the US. The doctors had learned about these types of programs from Dr David Sherry, who recently spoke at MCH, and who founded the program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  Unfortunately these types of intensive programs have not yet been rolled out in Australia, where Aliya currently lives.

Wanting to give their daughter the best chance at recovery, her parents applied to the Cleveland Clinic Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation  program.  They chose this program based on the Clinic's strong reputation, success rate, experience, and location near extended family in the US.

Why the Family Needs Our Help:

Unfortunately, the cost of this program is not covered by either their Australian Medicare (public healthcare) or their private health insurance, so this treatment program and associated travel costs will be entirely out of pocket for them. They've already experienced financial challenges as Aliya needed to transfer to a private school, plus extensive out of pocket medical expenses for physiotherapy, chiropractors, osteopathy, hydrotherapy, pain medication, and disability equipment. Her mother has also lost much of her income, giving up consulting work to care for Aliya, and will likely need to further reduce her work while she is with Aliya in the US.

Treatment Program Costs:

The initial, three week in-patient hospital program costs US$35,000. In addition, because Aliya's case is severe, she will likely need at least two additional weeks of out-patient treatment. The family is hoping to raise US$50,000 to cover the expected treatment costs. They've already booked their travel and the program starts in just two weeks (13 Aug 2018), so funds are needed as soon as possible.

Even the smallest contributions add up, so please help them if you can! They'll also appreciate any prayers and messages of support you can offer. Thank you, so very much, for your support!

#gofundme  #activeagainaliya