Hello everyone, my name is Isabelle and I'm here to ask for your support towards Ayla.

On January 21st, our lives changed in a matter of seconds.

Ayla was playing in the backyard when she was suddenly attacked by my partner’s dog. I (Isabelle) was inside the bedroom caring for her baby brother, Arlo, when I heard desperate screams for help. My heart dropped — I immediately thought of the dogs and ran as fast as I could.

Before I could reach her, Ayla had already been badly injured. Covered in blood, she showed incredible courage. She managed to restrain the dog, hold its mouth shut, hit its head on the ground, and run inside the house to protect herself.

She suffered scratches to her face, bites to her neck and arm, and a deep laceration to her gum.

We rushed her to St George Hospital, and from there she was transferred to the Children’s Hospital in Randwick, where she could receive the specialised procedure required for the injury to her neck. She was given antibiotics and kept under observation for many long and terrifying hours.

After returning home, we continued to face medical expenses for medications (which we are not including in this fundraiser). Just a few days after completing the treatment for the dog bite at home, Ayla became unwell again and had to be taken back to hospital with an infection, not able to eat anything or keep oral medication, vomiting and fever.

This meant more antibiotics, more blood tests, another hospital stay, and even more unexpected costs.

Unfortunately, we did not have private health insurance. Our plan was for Ayla to be added as my dependent to my partner visa in November 2025 so she could access Medicare after I get my approval. Only recently did we discover that she was not included in my visa, making this situation even more overwhelming.

Ayla arrived in Australia recently, and we are still paying off her airfare and documentation, which cost over AUD 2,500. Very soon, we will also need to apply to add Ayla as a dependent to the partner visa so she can access basic rights such as school, Medicare and other essential services — a process that will cost over AUD 3,000.

We know we should be able to manage our responsibilities, but this was a sudden, traumatic and overwhelming situation that we were completely unprepared for financially.

The past weeks have been incredibly stressful and emotionally draining. I am no longer able to work as I did before, and when I do manage to work, I have no choice but to take Ayla and Arlo with me while I clean houses.

Alongside our regular expenses — rent, food, electricity and daily living costs — the hospital bills have become simply impossible for us to manage alone.

Any help, no matter how small, would mean more to us than words can express. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing this page — that alone already helps us immensely.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for reading, for caring, and for supporting our family during this incredibly difficult time.

obs.: The amount we manage to raise will be used for hospital expenses only (St George Hospital $500 invoice - Children’s Hospital Randwick $2838).

May God bless you.