Mum's plea to help girl, 4, with rare condition that leaves her choking on food
A mother has made a desperate plea to help her four-year-old, who is suffering 16 serious medical conditions, get to the United States for treatment.
Anabela Kleyn, from the Blue Mountains in NSW, has a raft of rare ailments, including spina bifida, limb defects, chronic lung disease, sunken face, additional ribs and she was born without her right ear.
But while most of her conditions are manageable by doctors in Australia, Anabela also has a rare congenital heart anomaly that causes her oesophagus to close up and leaves her choking on food.
“These episodes can last from five minutes to three days and have resulted in surgery before,” Anabela’s mother Sarah Pearce told Yahoo7.
A surgery for the condition, known as an Aberrant Right Subclavian Artery, has never been performed in Australia before.
The family are hoping to raise enough money to travel to Boston in the US to see a specialist in August.
“If she doesn’t have an operation she could drop dead,” Ms Pearce said.
“She could choke and have a heart attack or her organs could shut down.
“It’s really traumatic.”
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Anabela had her first lifesaving surgery at just 48 hours old and since has been under general anaesthesia 30 times.
She also sleeps with a life support machine to monitor when she stops breathing.
In February the little girl was unable to eat solid food for 24 days and missed six weeks of preschool.
The US procedure to relocate Anabela’s artery costs approximately $65,500.
Ms Pearce said doctors in Boston are confident Anabela could live a long and healthy life if the surgery is a success and as long as her other conditions are managed.
The single mother said they were relocated through NSW Housing to be closer to Sydney Children’s Hospital when Anabela was 22 months old, and their only income is a fortnightly carer’s pension.
Ms Pearce has started a GoFundMe page to try and raise the funds to get the little girl to Boston.
