Please help my mum Saras Wati

Hi everyone.. My name is Prithi Pillay and I am a single mum to three boys. I live in Sydney Australia and only breadwinner of the house to support my family.

My mum, Saras Wati, has been fighting with Lupus for over 30 years, She’s become very weak and fragile and needs constant care. She arrived into Australia from Fiji on the 23rd of November to visit me and her grandkids. She usually gets all her medical checkups done before travelling as she is not covered for insurance due to her Lupus and chronic illnesses. But unfortunately on the 2nd of December while at home, she had an accident. My Mum had a nasty fall and badly injured her knees in which she ended up in emergency at Westmead Hospital. She has no insurance cover because of her lupus and that she is on tourist visa so costs are not covered.

My mum had to go into surgery and get her knee fixed (10cm laceration to the bone) and was kept overnight for observation. As the costs of the hospital bill was rising every minute we were there, mum got discharged and sent home.Her follow up was a few days later at the fracture clinic only to find out that she has a bad infection and she needs to go into theatre twice within a few days to get her wound washed then get her her knee fixed up again. The doctors are doing everything to keep her safe and healthy as her immune system is very weak. The costs for her treatment is rising and at times I had to pay upfront just for the doctor to have a look at her. Lupus has made my mums immune system quite weak and she’s prone to catch infections very quick if she’s not treated in time she could get sepsis.

We waited in day surgery for 10 hours then got sent back home and told to come back the next day. My whole family is going through a tough time now emotionally and financially as I’m taking a lot of time off from work to be with mum and bills are taking a toll on us.

I’ve been looking after my mum through the whole journey of her being sick.

The initial bill for the visit to the emergency, 2 surgeries on her knee and admission costs is now just shy of $20,000 and now she has to go into third surgery due to the intensity of the infections, follow ups to fracture clinic to make sure she heals properly due to lupus and physio as she can’t move around much.

I’ve tried every means of help but had no choice but to reach out to the community.

For anyone who is kind enough to donate i would like to thank dearly as we cannot keep our head above water. Thank you for your kindness and if we get into a better situation paying this forward goes without saying.

Yours sincerely,

Prithi Pillay