Help Melinda Bennett Live The Life She Deserves!

Melinda Bennett lives by the mantra:

"Life isn't always great but if you keep your face toward the sun you won't see the shadows."

Everyone who meets Melinda melts in her vibrancy, wicked sense of humour, warmth, unending compassion and kindness for everybody. She is an angel among us sent to remind us how very lucky we are!

At age 10, Melinda was diagnosed with the life-shortening, incurable degenerative disease Friedreich's Ataxia, an extremely serious condition that kills nerves and tightens muscles, and for which there is no known cure.

This extremely rare, inherited form of Muscular Dystrophy means Melinda lives life in a wheelchair and is gradually losing the use of all her muscles. The result for Melinda is loss of co-ordination leading to tremors, an unsteady gait and slurred speech, as well as serious heart and lung complications. The prognosis for Melinda is in years not decades.

The fact that Melinda has survived until adulthood is testament to her passion for living, enormous willingness to help others above herself, and an unrelenting positive outlook on life. Melinda is exactly like the sunflowers she loves so much!

Melinda receives basic government care and local support. We would love for her to not have to worry about heating bills in winter, to be able to buy gluten-free food to keep her healthy, and access a level of care she dserves to live a happy, nurtured and fulfilled life.

Melinda is not often able to leave her one-bedroom flat, there have even been some days when she doesn't see a friendly face all day except for some carers, and there have been times when she has been left in her bed alone for 16 hours or more unable to move at all or even contact anyone for support. It's time for us to rally to ensure Melinda is really shown how much we care!

Melinda endures by circumstance what most people would not tolerate even for a day.

So we at nzgirl want to involve everyone who is moved by Melinda's story to get behind her and give Melinda valued, valuable and happy life. We at nzgirl will be making a substantial donation to support Melinda and would love for you to contribute ANY donation big or small whether it be $1, $1000 or $10,000.

Everything you donate will go towards creating a magical life for this courageous, compassionate young woman who has earned her moment in the sun!

Melinda is also the founder of: https://www.facebook.com/gladtown14.