Whatshot
Dear Ed, Re: Help Save Bella
Dear Ed, Re: Help Save Bella
Date: 2022-09-24
Help Save BellaDerived from the name Isabel, meaning 'God is perfection' or 'God is my oath'. Katelyn Isabella is our perfect little baby.
My beautiful Bella was born 2 months premature and spent the first month of her life in the NICU. She came home for 2 weeks and then went into heart failure. Bella had a successful open-heart surgery at 8 weeks old, to repair an atrioventricular septal defect. The surgery took 8 hours and a larger than normal bovine patch to repair the bottom half of her heart. She spent a further month recovering in hospital. She has a leak on the right side and a minimal leak on the left. The intubation during surgery caused a glottal web in her throat.
Bella was diagnosed with Atonic seizures in September last year. These 'drop attacks' happen in clusters with no warning or telltale signs. Due to the meds not preventing the seizures, she is currently on a Ketogenic diet.
An MRI revealed more than we expected. Bella also has an inverted hippocampus, cerebral atrophy and had a brain bleed at some point. Bella was also diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea and uses a bi-pap machine for sleeping. Bella communicates with some Makaton signs, as she is non-verbal. Bella currently goes for speech, occupational and physiotherapy.
Despite all of this she is currently such a happy 23-month-old. We love her dearly and cannot imagine our lives without her. She is feisty and cheeky and has all who meet her, wrapped around her pinkie. Her smile melts your heart. She has such a sense of humour and often gets away with everything. She has taught us patience and to slow down and appreciate every little thing in our lives. Our sunshine is definitely the best-unexpected miracle that happened to us and we are grateful to God that he entrusted us with her.
Bella's battles are far from over. Our worst fears were confirmed on the 28th of August 2022, Bella has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). She is currently undergoing Chemo at Ethekwini Heart Hospital, under the care of the most wonderful Earth Angel Doctors. In the coming weeks we will be hosting numerous blood drives, fundraisers, and awareness campaigns in honour of and to help our precious Bella beat this dreaded disease.
We humbly appeal to you to help in any way that you can.Financial contributions in aid of the ongoing accumulating expenses can only be made to:
ABSA Bank,
Miss KI Moodley
Account number
936 194 2287
Branch code
632 005
Email address: bellascampaign2022@gmail.com
Contact details:
Vishanti Naidoo: +27815734990,
Duane Moodley: +27685896204,
Vintasha Naidoo: +27833172163.