Ride For Keira’s Spinal Surgery
Donation protected
Hi My Name is Charlize, and this is my friend Keira. She is the one rocking the wheelchair. My friends and I are on a mission to help Keira by raising money for her Spinal Surgery so she can run with us and NEVER feel left out ever again!
Like most 6 year old kids Charlize didn’t realise that Keira missed out on doing a lot of things that she loved to do due to her cerebral palsy and spasticity in her limbs.
She was devastated when I explained to her that for Keira, running with her friends without stopping was sometimes too hard physically for her to keep up, that Keira had to deal with the sadness of feeling left out due to her inability to do what other kids do and that she just wanted to chance to be able to “keep up with her friends.”
She didn’t realise that things were in fact so much harder for Keira than they are for her...
That was until I read Keira’s Mum story (about Keira) to her in bed one night:
Our daughter Keira is six years old. She is funny, smart, incredibly chatty and determined. She also has Cerebral Palsy.She and her twin brother were born ten weeks early, and as the smaller twin, she weighed 1.27kg or 2lb13oz when they were born.
Her Cerebral Palsy, Spastic Diplegia, is quite typical of a smaller premmie and causes increased tone in her legs, and a little in her left arm. Her leg muscles are always tight, or contracted. This affects her strength, stamina and balance when she is trying to walk, and she needs to use mobility aids to stand and walk. Using her walker she loves to walk, run, gallop like a horse and skip.
I asked her recently how she felt about her walker. She was quite matter of fact as she said “It would be better if I could walk without it”.
She never complains about how much harder she has to work than the other children, but she does reach the point when she stops and asks to be carried because she is just too tired to keep going.
We were at the park recently with some of her kindy friends. They were playing Meerkats in the bushes, and then I saw her alone. When I asked her why she said “My friends are running and I can’t keep up”.
My heart broke a little and I realised this will happen more and more over the next few years. This surgery is going to be hard for Keira, and for our family but it gives me hope that maybe in the future she won’t always be getting left behind.
Charlize was very upset that Keira wasn’t able to keep up and that she felt deeply saddened for this fact. In fact we lay together and cried for some time.
And this is where The Ride For Kiera was born.
So a few amazing kids from Keiras school are on a mission to help raise money so that their friend has the BEST chance to run with them, climb with them and experience life without her walker!
So each wonderful little human listed here is putting their heart and soul into reaching out to their loved ones and community to ask for HELP for their friend:
> Lola
> Asha
> Cameron
> Roberto
>Ollie
> Ben
> Zara
> Oliver
> Breifne
> Noah
> Janka
> Klaus
> Yuki
> Blossom
So what does Keira need to have done:
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, or SDR, is a surgical procedure to reduce spasticity in the lower limbs. An incision is made in the lower back and the spinal cord is opened up. The nerves are divided out and tested electrically to see which are causing the spasticity. These nerves are cut and the normal nerves left intact.
This treatment is most successful in younger children, who have spastic diplegia, are already independently mobile in some way, and who demonstrate the temperament to be willing and able to follow up the surgery with intensive therapy.
Keira meets all these criteria, and we are extremely lucky that she has been accepted for surgery at Westmeade Hospital in Sydney.
Her local Pediatrician and Physiotherapist presented her case to an interstate board of doctors who accepted her as a suitable candidate. After completing a final assessment in Sydney, she has been scheduled for surgery in November 2019.
Post Surgery:
Following the surgery Keira will be in hospital in Sydney for approximately four weeks. She will then be flown home and spend a further one or two weeks in Perth Children’s Hospital before being discharged and finally coming home. After the surgery Keira will need extensive therapy to regain her strength and mobility, initially five days per week and reducing over the following year.
Her family need to raise over $50,000 for her recovery.
So on the 20th of October all the kids are going to do a RIDE FOR KEIRA! Where they push themselves to their limits and do as many laps as they can handle around Brittannia Reserve.
We would love if you could help Keira our and donate whatever you can! Any amount of donation will help us get to our target
Love From the kids and a Thank you very much!
Like most 6 year old kids Charlize didn’t realise that Keira missed out on doing a lot of things that she loved to do due to her cerebral palsy and spasticity in her limbs.
She was devastated when I explained to her that for Keira, running with her friends without stopping was sometimes too hard physically for her to keep up, that Keira had to deal with the sadness of feeling left out due to her inability to do what other kids do and that she just wanted to chance to be able to “keep up with her friends.”
She didn’t realise that things were in fact so much harder for Keira than they are for her...
That was until I read Keira’s Mum story (about Keira) to her in bed one night:
Our daughter Keira is six years old. She is funny, smart, incredibly chatty and determined. She also has Cerebral Palsy.She and her twin brother were born ten weeks early, and as the smaller twin, she weighed 1.27kg or 2lb13oz when they were born.
Her Cerebral Palsy, Spastic Diplegia, is quite typical of a smaller premmie and causes increased tone in her legs, and a little in her left arm. Her leg muscles are always tight, or contracted. This affects her strength, stamina and balance when she is trying to walk, and she needs to use mobility aids to stand and walk. Using her walker she loves to walk, run, gallop like a horse and skip.
I asked her recently how she felt about her walker. She was quite matter of fact as she said “It would be better if I could walk without it”.
She never complains about how much harder she has to work than the other children, but she does reach the point when she stops and asks to be carried because she is just too tired to keep going.
We were at the park recently with some of her kindy friends. They were playing Meerkats in the bushes, and then I saw her alone. When I asked her why she said “My friends are running and I can’t keep up”.
My heart broke a little and I realised this will happen more and more over the next few years. This surgery is going to be hard for Keira, and for our family but it gives me hope that maybe in the future she won’t always be getting left behind.
Charlize was very upset that Keira wasn’t able to keep up and that she felt deeply saddened for this fact. In fact we lay together and cried for some time.
And this is where The Ride For Kiera was born.
So a few amazing kids from Keiras school are on a mission to help raise money so that their friend has the BEST chance to run with them, climb with them and experience life without her walker!
So each wonderful little human listed here is putting their heart and soul into reaching out to their loved ones and community to ask for HELP for their friend:
> Lola
> Asha
> Cameron
> Roberto
>Ollie
> Ben
> Zara
> Oliver
> Breifne
> Noah
> Janka
> Klaus
> Yuki
> Blossom
So what does Keira need to have done:
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, or SDR, is a surgical procedure to reduce spasticity in the lower limbs. An incision is made in the lower back and the spinal cord is opened up. The nerves are divided out and tested electrically to see which are causing the spasticity. These nerves are cut and the normal nerves left intact.
This treatment is most successful in younger children, who have spastic diplegia, are already independently mobile in some way, and who demonstrate the temperament to be willing and able to follow up the surgery with intensive therapy.
Keira meets all these criteria, and we are extremely lucky that she has been accepted for surgery at Westmeade Hospital in Sydney.
Her local Pediatrician and Physiotherapist presented her case to an interstate board of doctors who accepted her as a suitable candidate. After completing a final assessment in Sydney, she has been scheduled for surgery in November 2019.
Post Surgery:
Following the surgery Keira will be in hospital in Sydney for approximately four weeks. She will then be flown home and spend a further one or two weeks in Perth Children’s Hospital before being discharged and finally coming home. After the surgery Keira will need extensive therapy to regain her strength and mobility, initially five days per week and reducing over the following year.
Her family need to raise over $50,000 for her recovery.
So on the 20th of October all the kids are going to do a RIDE FOR KEIRA! Where they push themselves to their limits and do as many laps as they can handle around Brittannia Reserve.
We would love if you could help Keira our and donate whatever you can! Any amount of donation will help us get to our target
Love From the kids and a Thank you very much!
Co-organizers (8)
Stacey Barnes
Organizer
Balcatta, WA
Tamsin Thomas
Beneficiary
Julie Magner
Co-organizer
Dawn Pascoe
Co-organizer
Bianca De Graaf
Co-organizer
秋田 詩織
Co-organizer