Help My Daughter Shonny Get Life-Changing Surgery

It’s incredibly hard to watch your child suffer and not be able to fix it. Over the past couple years Shonny has been through a medical nightmare. What started as unexplained symptoms has led to multiple hospital stays, countless tests, feeding tube, and months of uncertainty. In the past six months, her health has rapidly declined — and every day has become a battle.

We’ve finally started to get some answers. She’s been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), POTS, MCAS. These conditions have led to Abdominal Vascular Compression Syndromes (AVCS), which are now the main cause of her severe symptoms.

Right now, she’s completely unable to keep food down and lives with constant, severe nausea, fatigue, pain, and weakness, having to pivot long term goals and dreams to short term just trying to get through each day. Watching her go from a vibrant, active young woman to having no energy, being unable to continue with university studies and work, or to be out doing things she loves and living in complete constant discomfort, has been heartbreaking.

There is hope — surgery to relieve the vascular compressions can give her sense of her life back. Unfortunately, this surgery isn’t available in New Zealand and isn’t publicly funded. The closest options are in Australia and Germany.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any support you can give so that Shonny can get this life changing procedure as soon as possible.