Help Danae get to Outward Bound

This cause has been created to help my sister Danae achieve her dream of going to Outward Bound, a life-changing outdoor education experience.

In 2009, Danae was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, a disease which affects her joints and major organs, and at its worst brought her very close to death with multi-organ failure, a cardiac arrest and coma which she fought very hard to come back from.

This has affected her life in many ways, and has meant that she has had to give up a lot of things (including her career in aviation which she pursued to follow in the footsteps of our late father, John) due to the sometimes debilitating symptoms of this disease.

Despite some major ups and downs, she always strives to do the best she can with what she’s got, and has been offered a place and partial scholarship to attend an Outward Bound Aspire course designed for people with mild disability/chronic illness. Attending Outward Bound has always been a dream of hers, and when she got sick we (her whanau) thought it would never be possible, but the Aspire course is a physically achievable goal for Danae at this time and this opportunity is an amazing chance for her to make this happen.

I am trying to help her raise funds to cover the remaining cost of the course, travel from the BOP to Picton and some essential gear she will need for the 8 days spent doing the things she has always wanted to do. My sister loves the outdoors but lupus has meant she hasn’t been able to enjoy it the way she used to; she faces pain and fatigue daily, but this is the chance of a lifetime for her to reconnect with that part of her life in a safe environment with peers who have faced similar challenges.

The mission statement for Outward Bound in New Zealand is “Inspiring personal and social development through value based experiential learning in an outdoor environment” and this reflects exactly the values Danae carries with her in life. Please help me to make this happen for her.