Saving 4year old Ava Marland's Eye

On Christmas Eve 2016, my beautiful 4 year old neice, Ava Maryella Marland had an unfortunate and devastating accident with our family dog, resulting in the possible loss of her eye.

Doctors confirmed the incident caused the loss of her iris and lens and detachment of her retina.

She spent Christmas and New Years at the Royal Melbourne Childrens Hospital, where she underwent 2 lots of surgery, one of which took 3.5hrs to reattach her retina.



Ava has another lot of surgery in early February 2017 and will have more over the next couple of years.

My sister and brother in law, Jon & Bel Marland are fighting to save their daughters eye and hope to restore her sight.


They have had to take time off work to provide 24hr care and attend numerous medical appointments in Melbourne, resulting in more expenses and the loss of income.

My mother, (Ava's Grandmother) has been Ava's guardian angel and also attends all appointments for Ava as well as assists with the 24hour care.

Jon & Bel have such big hearts and have given to many charities, entertaining and helping those in need.

However, now in such a difficult time of their lives, they are too modest to ask for help in return.

So as a Sister and Aunty, I ask on their behalf and hope to raise enough funds to help with Ava's medical expenses, the travel and accommodation to and from the hospital, reduce their financial pressure and to landscape the backyard of their home.

Being new homeowners, their backyard has not yet been landscape, leaving too much dirt and unstable footing for the area to be safe enough for Ava to go outside and play in.

At this stage, we are unable to put an exact price on her treatments. We will do everything we can to restore her eye and sight, even looking at specialist overseas.

Any raised funds left over after this journey, will be donated to one of the specialists or hospitals that have cared for Ava.

For transparency, funds raised will be directed towards the following areas: medical treatment costs (in arrears, current & future), trips to and from the hospital, accommodation, family breaks, offset the loss of income due to having to take time off work for the care of Ava, landscaping to create a safe backyard for Ava to play in and reducing financial pressure through mortgage reduction. Ava at the Royal Childrens Hospital Melbourne.

My gorgeous neice has been an absolute champion, still flashing her radiant smile and staying strong through this traumatic ordeal. Everyday I am in awe at how resilient, brave and positive this little princess has been.

We will forever be grateful for any donations, big and small xx

I will keep this page updated as we know more.

Marybel