Ataahua Journey-Air For Ataah

Ataahua is a 22month old girl, she has a chronic lung condition called Bronchiectasis. She is currently fed via an NG tube and requires oxygen 24/7. 20% of her lungs are severely scarred and she will never regain use but our hope is that by the time she turns 2, the healthier parts of her lungs are stronger :)

What was supposed to be a one week stay at Starship Hospital turned out to be a 4 month stay for our large family. We were told that Ataahua was not going to survive last winter and the flu would put her on Life Support. Due to how weak her lungs and airways were it would be cruel and the specialist wouldn’t be able to remove tubing. We decided to let nature take its course. While on the ‘DO NOT resuscitate list Ataahua was transferred to Wellington Children’s Hospital to see our days out. We stayed for 3 months until we were transferred to Hutt Hospital and advised that Ataahua would need to spend a further 6 months living in the hospital. After a lot of sleepless nights and long days we were told that Ataahua was allowed to be discharged and came home for one night :) We did as much training as possible to ensure we could provide the best environment for Ataahua. We were discharged from Hutt Hospital after 2 months, continuing regular visits to outpatient doctors, specialists and open admission. Ataahua was successful in being removed from the ‘DO NOT resuscitate list, being discharged from hospital and defining all the odds of the medical system through being alive today.

We currently have oxygen tanks that we need to transport for Ataahua to leave the house. We are hoping to fundraise enough to purchase Ataahua a Portable Oxygen Concentrator, currently priced at $4999.95 excluding GST. We are also doing fundraisers to try and raise the finances needed to make this purchase. We were hoping that Ataahua would be off oxygen by the time she turns 2. Unfortunately that is not likely to happen :(

Ataahua is growing into a strong beautiful girl with a very strong personality :) You would not think she was not supposed to survive. She is a trooper :)