Hi, my name is Tarryn and I am one of two younger sisters of Kresta, who we are fundraising for!

Kresta is 43 and has had Type 1 Diabetes since age 8, and Coeliac since age 9.

With Diabetes in particular, comes many potential complications. For Kresta, in 2023 she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Disease - her kidney function was at around 30%. As of now, she is at Stage 5 which means kidney function is below 15%. She is now on Dialysis 4 times per day at home.

She also now has neuropathy in her legs (nerve damage that causes pain, numbness, tingling or weakness), and very little muscle mass in her legs and arms. She has been struggling to walk on her own for a while now, since earlier this year having to rely on a walker.

Unfortunately a few months ago, her knees gave way when she was standing and she broke two bones in her right ankle. Fortunately due to the neuropathy, she did not feel it, however it required surgery which involved inserting a metal rod and two nails. So since this, she has been in a wheelchair. She has just been given the all clear on her ankle, however because of 3 months being unable to walk and in a wheelchair, trying to get some strength back in her legs to potentially hold weight for her to be able to get around with her walker again will pose yet another challenge.

On top of this, she has high blood pressure which also caused blood vessels to burst in her eyes, causing bleeding and blurred vision. She had to have a procedure called a vitrectomy to fix this. The surgery was successful, however another issue arose which is advanced cataracts. Kresta will be having surgery on her eyes one at a time to fix this also. She is just waiting to find out when this will be.

For those who don't know, Kresta has lived in Perth for around 20 years now, met her first husband over there and they had two kids. Her and her first husband split many years ago and my neice and nephew are now 11 and 12. Kresta and her husband Dave have the kids on the weekends.

Currently, Dave is the sole breadwinner as Kresta cannot work, so there is a lot of financial pressure on him, not to mention he is caring for Kresta and handling everything at home. Dave has a bad back which doesn't help all of this, and the mental load on him is huge.

The reason for this fundraiser is to be able to take some of this pressure off of Dave and Kresta by giving them a bit of financial help. I fear that the current situation is only going to work short term, and eventually Dave will burn out. He cannot afford to have days off work as they need the money, but still comes home to Kresta during the days to bring her lunch and help her to the toilet as she is unable to do this herself in her wheelchair. He also brings her dialysis equipment to her to enable her to do that for her middle of the day treatment. The stress on them at this point is enormous and being over here in QLD it is very hard to be able to help them.

I am in the current stages of looking into what sort of support they can get over there to alleviate some of this from Dave, but in the meantime I know any money raised will help them greatly.

Thank you so much - any donation is SO appreciated.