Help Sandra & Sean's Miracle Baby

Who is Sandra Pela? She is loving, kind, brave, resilient and selfless.
Who am I? I am her younger sister, who grew up lucky enough to know her.


The Diagnosis
Sandra was 12 years old and had been feeling ill all winter. Doctors thought  it was the flu, but when it didn’t get better they decided to take some tests. It was a Saturday in May of 2001 when our Mom got the phone call.

“Please take her in to the hospital immediately.”

Upon arriving at the hospital the doctors told our Mom.

“We’re surprised she’s still alive, her toxin levels are drastically high.”

They diagnosed her with a rare autoimmune disease called Wegener's Granulomatosis. In 2002 at age 13, she was put on dialysis. Over the next 6 months the disease proceeded to destroy her kidneys. The day before her 14th birthday, Sandra went into surgery and had both of them removed. Her paths from there were either lifelong dialysis, or getting a kidney transplant. She’s been on dialysis 4 days a week, 4 hours per treatment.


The Transplant
In January of 2005 Sandra was granted a wish from the Children’s Wish Foundation. She chose to take our family (all 8 of us) to Hawaii.
It was a wonderful trip, and only 36 hours after returning home, Sandra received a kidney transplant. It would have been the perfect ending to a perfect trip, had everything gone as planned. Unfortunately, the kidney failed.
At 15 years old Sandra underwent 3 surgeries in 1 week. Putting in the new kidney, trying to fix the new kidney, and then removing the new kidney. The result of having a foreign kidney and multiple necessary blood transfusions, has taken a toll on Sandra’s body. She is now 100% likely to reject any other kidneys and she is considered a very rare case. It’s now been 15 ½ years that she’s been on dialysis to stay alive.


Sandra’s Remarkable Spirit
Even though Sandra has had more challenges in life than most, she still remains one of the most positive people, and with such a go getter attitude. She is a major inspiration to her friends and family.
Since her diagnosis she has graduated high school, went to university, travelled the world and met the love of her life - Sean! Currently she works as an LPN nurse at Saint Paul’s hospital where she can be a positive influence for others, as nurses have been for her.


The Miracle 
Because of Sandra’s unique medical circumstances, she’s been told she’d be unable to have children. Either she didn’t have viable eggs, or her body would reject the baby and self-terminate, as it did with the kidney. This was a major disappointment to her and her long term partner Sean. They had looked into IVF, surrogacy, and recently adoption when the unexpected happened.

On Friday April 13th, 2018, Sandra found out she was pregnant - 16 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby. For someone who’s body rejects everything, it hasn’t rejected this baby. Sandra will now be required to do dialysis 6 days a week, with 6 hour treatments. This is why we are starting this campaign.




How You Can Help
We would love to raise $10,000 to help Sandra and Sean bring their healthy Miracle Baby into this world, safely and stress free. As Sandra will be on dialysis 36 hours a week, she will not have much time to work, thus creating a financial strain as well as a physical one. All donations would be going towards living costs to get her through the rest of the pregnancy.If you are able to, we would all greatly appreciate any donations to this fund. 

Thank you very much. 

Sincerely,
Sandra’s family