Please help Helen and Pelagia

My name is Melissa, and I am reaching out to you on behalf of my friend Helen.

Helen is a beautiful single mum that I have met through our dance community at The Dance Spot in Randwick. We have been friends for the past 8 years.

Helen’s daughter Pelagia who is 16 years old, has been a student at The Dance Spot for 10 years.

In January this year Pelagia was offered a position at the prestigious European School of Ballet in Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, and simultaneous to receiving this fantastic news, Helen was diagnosed with breast cancer. Having already survived bowel cancer, Helen needed to undergo emergency surgery and treatment.

This all happened so fast, with no time to prepare, heartbreaking, exciting …. bittersweet.

As a result of her diagnosis, Helen needed to cease work to prepare for surgery and healing.

Pelagia’s position at The European School of Ballet came about after a rigorous audition process. Years of hard work and dedication at The Dance Spot, and the fact that Pelagia is a very talented young lady, speaks for itself in the many successes she has achieved.

In 2022 Pelagia was awarded the Capezio Award of Most Promising Young Dancer from Sydney Eisteddfod. In 2023 Pelagia won the Advanced 1 Level Isobel Anderson Awards and was chosen to represent NSW as a finalist in the Royal Academy of Dance Bursary Award. In 2023 Pelagia was announced as one of the Top 12 Dancers in the Senior Contemporary category of Youth American Grand Prix held in Sydney. These are just a few of the many achievements Pelagia has made.

The director of the European School of Ballet wanted Pelagia to commence in April, but Pelagia felt she could not leave her mum as she wanted to be with her to support her through surgery. She was fortunate to have had her place held for her whilst she cared for her mum, which is a testament to her talent.

Fast forward to May, and unfortunately Helen was not well enough to travel with Pelagia to Amsterdam. Luckily her ballet teacher was able to make the journey with her to ensure she settled into classes and the boarding facility.

I recently had a discussion with the directors of the Dance Spot who are extremely concerned for Helen’s circumstances, and because of that discussion it was decided that we somehow needed to raise funds to help Helen with the insurmountable costs she is up against.

Currently, Helen is not working as she is healing from her surgery. The school fees are equivalent to a private school in Australia, and with that comes boarding, uniforms shoes and cost of living.

Pelagia will also need to travel back and forth to Australia when the school has breaks throughout the year, and we all know how travel can be very costly especially to Europe.

It’s a bittersweet time in their lives, everything has just happened so fast. A devastating diagnosis, emergency surgery coupled with this amazing opportunity that every dancer dreams of, it would be devastating to give it up because of the lack of funds.

Hopefully Helen will be well and able to return to work soon, but in the meantime the bills are accumulating, which is extremely stressful.

Any financial assistance would be truly welcome and appreciated to help Helen and Pelagia get through this. Any funds raised will go directly to Helen so she can start managing the medical and education bills. I am so thankful in advance to anyone that has taken the time to read my story about Helen and Pelagia and appreciate any assistance possible.