Dearest friends, family, whanau. This may be the hardest post I have ever made. My nephew Mark is gravely ill and needs help.

Dearest friends, family, whanau

This may be the most important post I have ever written, and may ever make. I implore you not to scroll past without reading it.

These photos are of my youngest nephew Mark Miller, who is 16 and in desperate need of help.

On Saturday I travelled down the North Island to Hamilton to finally collect some of my things from my sister's house. During that time I reunited with my brother John (Marks dad) after many months. We had all lost touch. It was upon catching up with my sister Mary and brother, that they delivered the most upsetting news about my beautiful nephew.

Mark is gravely ill. His illness started about a year ago, at age 15 beginning with crippling pain under his ribs. He was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, an agonising and dangerous condition.

After initial diagnosis and treatment it seemed Mark was improving but within a week his symptoms returned and worsened, and he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. The pain was so severe my brother was unable to move him and he had to be treated in the ambulance with morphine before he could be moved. He was sent home a couple of days later when the pain was under control.

Within two weeks he was rushed back to hospital suffering the same symptoms, this time a range of tests were performed in order to find the cause of pain. He was sent home a couple of days later.

On his next visit to hospital, they removed his gall bladder, only to find that his gall bladder was in fact healthy. (They can't put it back in once it has been removed). They stabilised his condition, and once again he was sent home.

In the months since then Mark's symptoms have returned, worsened and intensified, and there have been multiple trips back to hospital in the ambulance, with doctors seemingly at a loss as to what was wrong. All they have been able to do is stabilise the pain with morphine and send him home.

During this period he has been unable to attend school and has been housebound when not in hospital. He has lost incredible amounts of weight, dropping to 42 kilograms (92 pounds) at times, which in itself presents significant risks and dangers, due to his inability to eat without pain, he has spent the last few months on a nasal feeding tube, but as doctors feared may happen, he is no longer able to tolerate it. He now faces the prospect of intravenous feeding such as what is typically given to coma patients.

In the most recent months there have been more serious and life threatening developments - Seizures, loss of consciousness, and he has come close to death on more than one occasion.

My brother relayed to me an occasion where every muscle in Mark's body cramped at once for over two hours, in which all Mark could do was scream uncontrollably while emergency staff and doctors scrambled to find a solution. He is now suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the experience and suffers from cognitive problems.

A specialist has finally identified a likely cause of Mark's problems - an underdeveloped pancreas (most likely since birth) and steps are in place to transfer Mark to a hospital in Auckland to perform a rare medical procedure to repair Mark's damaged pancreas which is now very damaged.

The pancreas is one organ that cannot be removed or replaced.

I have shed many tears as the news has sunk in. Only a couple of years ago I was living at my brother's house for a few months. At the time Mark was a healthy, lively, exuberant 14 year old. He was in a hockey team, involved in school musical productions, and often had to be summoned home for dinner, because he would stay out skateboarding with his mates, he was full of life and humour. It breaks my heart that he has lost all of these things, with barely enough energy to get around the house and the constant and often relentless pain he endures. My heart goes out to his big brother and sister, and his devoted parents who are desperate for him to be free from pain, and risk, and to begin the long road to recovery.

This is why I have set up the give-a-little page for this family, to at least ease the financial burden of this tragic situation. During the course of the last 12 months, both my brother and his wife have exhausted their stock of annual leave, and sick leave, trying to care for Mark, and meet the constant demands of these emergencies. There are significant costs associated with healthcare, doctors visits, and the many, many trips in the ambulance. John and Suzanne are of meagre means (both on close to minimum wage) and with the near prospect of Mark's transfer to Auckland for treatment, it is unclear how they will possibly meet the costs of further time off work, and the expense of accommodation while they go up there to support him during treatment.

I was at a loss as to what I could do to help in their time of need. This is why I ask for your help. If you can give a little, every dollar adds up, even $2. If you are in a position where you can, and want to help with a larger amount, it will go such a long way to easing the financial stress my family are under. If you are in dire financial straits of you own, then I ask for your prayers and best wishes, or even get-well cards or messages of support, to let Mark know that he's not alone and that people are rooting for him.

I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in miracles. My beloved nephew needs both.