Help Otto Come Home

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Given by 194 generous donors in 24 days

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Helping Otto make a full recovery

Auckland

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On Sunday 26 July, Otto who is just 4 months shy of his 3rd birthday, suffered a serious traumatic brain injury in an accident at home. He was rushed to Starship Hospital in Auckland, where he remains in critical care with his family beside him.

After some very crucial first days, Otto has shown extraordinary strength, is now stable and is fighting like hell to get back to everyone and everything he loves. His family are holding onto hope for a full recovery for their brave and strong little boy, taking it one hour at a time. However the road ahead is long and uncertain.

In addition to coping with this devastating injury, Otto’s baby brother, who he is so very excited to meet, is due to arrive in ~6 weeks.

This is where Team Otto comes in. Normal life for the family has stopped and the time away from everything adds up fast, the typical years of rehabilitation and specialist care that follow a brain injury is 12/24 months.

We have set up this page, where any dollar donated will go straight to Otto's family so they can stay where they need to be, next to Otto as he gives this everything he’s got.

Any unneeded funds will be passed on to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Starship Hospital, who have been nothing short of incredible to allow Otto to get to this point, as well as showing an unbelievable amount of care for the family during this difficult time.

Otto is fighting. Let's help his family fight alongside him without worrying about anything else.

Dylan Mac's involvement (page creator)

Family Friend

Use of funds

Rehabilitative care not funded by Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora, child care for hospital stays, potential lost income

August 17th Update 18 August 2026

Hello,

I wanted to share with everyone an incredible milestone, yesterday Otto was medically cleared to leave Starship Childrens Hospital and transported to Wilson Centre, a pediatric rehabilitation centre on the cliffs of Takapuna, where he’ll begin an intensive recovery phase.

Staff at Starship can’t believe this milestone. Three weeks ago, the medical team was preparing the ICU until the end of August, with staying at Starship well beyond his little brother’s birth being the plan. His progress has been miraculous and now the reality of how long recovery may take, and the unknowns around the final outcome, are starting to sink in. While there are still plenty of unknowns, and the road ahead is long, the family is energized by the fact that three weeks ago, today wasn’t even a consideration.

We are still a ways from Otto coming home but your help and support has meant so much to the family. There aren't enough ways to thank you, we are grateful that Otto may be able to do so in person one day.

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