Let’s get me back to who I used to be!

Here we have a kind and caring young woman, Zoe Little, who is just 30 years old and needs our help!

Those lucky enough to know her as a friend, family or work colleague will know just how important her life is to us.

This young woman will go out of her way to try and help people in need, even if she has nothing to give, she goes above and beyond what anyone could ever expect from her so it's time for us to return the favour.

This fundraiser is to help Zoe with medical expenses for treatment, travel, medication and surgery that she urgently needs to ensure she has the best fighting chance of survival.

Below is Zoe’s story so far, it really puts into perspective what this beautiful young woman has already been through in her life, much more than any of us could ever imagine.

Please read Zoe’s story.

“In August 2021: I had started to feel extremely sick, almost like I had the flu. It was just after COVID had happened so I got tested for it and it came back negative. The symptoms kept getting worse, I was constantly nauseous and throwing up, I couldn’t eat or drink anything so eventually after about a week I went into the ER in Kelowna. They told me id be fine and it was COVID and to go home and drink gatorade. So I left emerge and went back home where I continued to keep getting worse.

Over the next few weeks I went back and forth from the ER to my house, the hospital wouldn’t take me seriously. I was always sick I was in so much pain it hurt to breathe.

Middle of October of 2021 they finally accepted something was wrong with me and admitted me to the hospital in Kelowna. They ran test after test after test on me. Ultrasounds, XRAYs, CAT scans, MRIS, blood work, the did an endoscopy, they did a digestion test. I felt like a guinea pig at the end of the testing. I was in the hospital for 3 months that time around. They put a feeding tube down my nose and throat in hopes that would help but I just threw that up, each and every time. They still came up with nothing. So I went home right before Christmas that year. I spent Christmas Day in bed sick not even able to get my self to the bathroom. My boyfriend at the time had to pick me up and carry me.

February 2022 I finally got so sick I actually passed out and hit my head just trying to get up from the toilet by myself, I could barely bathe myself, I had to be lifted in and out of the tub, carried everywhere. My 2 dogs had no idea what was going on, I had lost at least 60 pounds at this point. And I was not a very big person to begin with. I went back to KGH and they did another Endoscopy, each and every time I have gotten one of these I remember every minute of it. At the end of this brief stay I got diagnosed with “Gastroparesis”

April 2022 My dad came and got me in Kelowna, and brought me back to Abbotsford where there were more specialists and doctors and better hospitals. They kept me for one night said “You’ve been diagnosed with Gastroparesis there’s nothing we can do” and sent me on my way.

So I went home to my apartment in Abbotsford that I now lived in with my dad and I stayed there, sick daily and again bed ridden until May.

May long weekend of 2022 I got so sick I started to have seizures, I was sick for 2 weeks before I got rushed back to Abbotsford Hospital, where I had 8 IVs put into me, heart monitors and rushed to ICU where I stayed for 2 weeks. I was told if I had waited any longer I wouldn’t have made it through the night. They kept me in ICU for 2 weeks, then in a room on a regular medical floor for another 2 weeks. This stay was only a month. They tried TPN on me this time.

July of 2022 I went back to Kelowna, I was missing my friends and the rest of my family and my animals.

December 2022 I was there successfully until the middle of December when I couldn’t do it any more and I got admitted back into KGH. By this point I weighed maybe a whole 95 pounds, which isn’t a lot when you’re 5’9. I spent 2 months in the hospital this time. I spent Christmas Day alone and in the hospital, sick again. I was discharged in February of 2023 this time around. The only thing they tried that was new were some medications. Again none of which did anything for me.

February 2023 I went home for a bit, I spent a lot of time in bed sleeping. I didn’t eat much, I didn’t gain any weight. I had lost all strength and muscle mass.

May 2023 I had more seizures, I was rushed to KGH and I got put in the ICU immediately. After a week in ICU I was moved to 6west and stayed there for a while, in and out of ICU. At this point I wanted to give up, I cant move, I cant breathe properly, im always throwing up. I was no longer me. I cried every day. I begged people to end my life. I asked Doctors to apply to MAID for me. No one would help me apply for it not matter how much I begged and cried. They had tried me on every pill and treatment there was for Gastroparesis and nothing seemed to work, they put me on Hydromorphone as a pain killer to help me. But when the low dose they gave me stopped working they told me I was becoming to reliant on them, even though I was following their instructions and guidance on what to take and when to take them. I was admitted to the hospital for 6 months this time around.

End of October 2023 I checked myself out of the hospital, I refused to be in there for another year on my birthday or Christmas. So I went back to my moms this time and she took me to my dads in Abbotsford a week later.

December 2023 I lasted a month before needing to go back to the hospital. Admitted right away and stuck in a hallway. I spent Christmas in the hospital again that year, at least my dad and mom came to see me this year in the hospital. Travelling around Christmas is hard with the snow and the highway between Kelowna and Abbotsford but they managed this year. I was still sick but at least I had company this time.

April 2024 still admitted to Abbotsford hospital and I was still in a hallway, not the same hallway though because anytime someone older then me or had a drug addiction problem came in they got my spot and I got moved, I got moved once a week. Middle of April my Kidneys completely failed. I now have to be on dialysis 3 times a week while I wait for a kidney transplant. Which is a 2-4 year wait time.

May 2024 I went home. The back and forth from the hospital was to much on my dad. My mom wasn’t able to come visit as often from Kelowna. The money was getting tight as my dad was now supporting me, meds and treatments and gas for getting to and from appointments and specialists and him taking time off work to take me as I wasn’t able to drive myself for the longest time. I was no longer me.

I haven’t been able to work since the beginning of august 2021, I didnt have an income, I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t walk. My sister had just had her baby and I had a brand new niece that I have barely been able to see, spend time with or get to know. I can no longer have children and that kills me every day to know as ive always wanted a family, I wanted to be a mom and feel what it’s like to be pregnant.

I haven’t been admitted into the hospital for more then a night or 2 since the kidney diagnosis but that doesn’t mean im not sick. I am in pain every single day, there’s some days I dont even want to get up and I pray the night before I dont wake up the next morning.

I want to get better medical advice and treatment from outside of North America. I have had a couple friends go to Thailand for vacation or for certain treatments and they have told me amazing things about it. They will run literally every test on you and not give up until they figure out what’s wrong. Their hospitals have proper food in them! Wholesome food, like home cooked meals, fruits and vegetables, which is important when you are trying to heal.