Aariyah's Journey

Aariyah is the only child in NZ who has the rarest form of JXG. This is a childhood cancer and no child has survived into late childhood. She has multiple legions on her body, underneath her skin and on major organs. Because this condition is so rare there is no known treatment. She is currently on a range of different medications and undergoing chemotherapy in the hope that this will stop the growth of these legions.

The last 15 months has been a strain on our family, especially my other three children. Aariyah and I spent 3 months at Starship Hospital while diagnosis was being sought while my other children stayed in Rotorua with family. Aariyah has weekly chemo at Rotorua Hospital and travels to Starship regularly for further chemo and checkups. On the trips to Starship my 3 children travel with us and their school donates activity packs for their travel. As a single parent it breaks my heart that they have to go without while we concentrate on Aariyah's health and know that she may not be with us for a long time.

Our recent visit to Starship revealed that while the chemo has removed some of the legions from Aariyah's liver the legions remain on her body. The specialists have decided to reduce her chemo from weekly to fortnightly.

Donations would be used to research alternative natural medicines in the hope that they make Aariyah as comfortable as possible during her time with our family.