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Fight for Sandi to get her life back!

  • SANDI NEEDS SURGERY ASAP

      25 April 2025

    Kia Ora friends, whanau, followers and strangers. Today’s update Friday 25th April.

    Our goal post has changed again.

    Sandi needs surgery ASAP.

    We have found a private hospital willing to do Sandi-Leigh’s chait tube surgery.

    Southern Cross hospital in Wellington have quoted the surgery at $25000-28000 approximately. We are currently waiting for an appointment date. Sandi-Leigh doesn’t have health insurance and will never meet the criteria to have it.

    Unfortunately the public system is already stretched and under the pump with huge wait lists and unless it was deemed an emergency, they won’t be able to fast track her.

    Sandi is still only drinking ensure, 2-3 times per day is all she can manage and water. The lack of adequate nutrition is detrimental to her current health. She has lost a staggering amount of weight since she’s been unable to eat and her energy levels are non existent and mobility leaves her extremely exhausted and drained.

    Once Sandi has had the surgery, we are hoping she can get the ketamine infusions as soon as she’s well enough to fly.

    We are now looking at trying to raise/find $40,000-$45,000 for both surgery and ketamine infusion.

    ACC have yet to give us definitive answers. They are failing her. They are taking their time even though they know there’s urgency with this surgery and treatment. Their communication and commitment to Sandi has been extremely poor. We can not wait much longer. We need to act now.

    Any help is appreciated.

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  • Sandis Backstory

      13 April 2025

    Sandis life was turned upside down in 2019, a medical misadventure, an incorrect intramuscular injection. Leaving her with life long illness, autoimmune disease/nerve disorder, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type 2 (CRPS). This paralysed her large bowel so she had surgery for an ileostomy in October 2020 as a result. CRPS in the last few years has affected only her limbs.

    Since then she has been taken to Hospital over 20 times in excruciating pain. The CRPS has dangerously spread to her stomach/bowel, which impacts her ileostomy dangerously. This means she is unable to keep any food or drink down.

    After research and many doctors later we found Ketamine. Sandi flew to Melbourne to the Pain Specialists Australia as this treatment is not available here in New Zealand. Ketamine infusions are only offered to paediatrics in Starship Hospital.

    Ketamine, an anaesthetic agent found useful for chronic pain such as CRPS. Given by IV in small doses, goes directly to the brain to decrease pain. Blocking neurotransmitters at the NMDA receptors associated with feeling pain.

    After her first weeks treatment, Sandi said, “I can feel every part of my body again without pain” and her ileostomy started to function normally again.

    Sandi needs it every 3-6 months roughly for the rest of her life! Costs for her treatment over $17,000. ACC have ruled out any financial aid until they go over medical records AGAIN and put her through even more tests.

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  • URGENT HELP NEEDED!

      13 April 2025

    Kia Ora friends, whanau and strangers.

    Todays update Sunday 13th April is not what we were expecting to post.

    Our goal post has changed with URGENCY.

    As Sandi enters her 3rd week at Wellington Hospital her ileostomy bag has failed and needs to be removed and a Chait tube to be inserted to start eating again. It has literally been months since she has had any proper sustenance. She is now dangerously underweight.

    We received the news on Friday that she has a large benign brain tumour. She started chemo yesterday in the hope to reduce it in size. She will have another blood test in 4 weeks to check the prolactin levels, if it is still high she will have another MRI to check the size and plan surgery to remove it. We need to have the Chait tube done urgently in order for Sandi to eat again to gain weight for what could be upcoming complicated brain surgery. We hope to get Sandi the Ketamine treatment immediately after the Chaite tube surgery to help with the CRPS that is currently crippling her.

    She is back to using a wheelchair and mobility aids. Wellington Hospital cannot guarantee she can have the bowel surgery urgently due to an already overloaded urgent waiting list and have advised us to look at going private. We cannot wait for ACC to fight us on this once again. While this is all happening two children are desperate to have their mum home.

    If you would like to donate.. anything and everything is appreciated ❤

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