Riays's Journey to recovery

When Riays was 9 months she was diagnosed with a rare condition called Bilateral Wilms Tumors which meant she had tumors growing inside both of her kidneys.

Her first 10 weeks after diagnosis were spent in Christchurch, staying between hospital and Ronald McDonald House.

Riays received Chemotherapy with the hope of shrinking the tumors to a size where they could be successfully removed without losing the Kidneys.

Devastatingly this was not the outcome, the chemotherapy was unsuccessful and her tumors had growing taking over both kidneys. The day after her 1st Birthday Riays was flown to Starship hospital to have both kidneys removed.

Riays faces major challenges daily, for example she has had to learn to sleep perfectly still for 12 hours during dialysis. This is amazing when you consider she is only 1. It will be necessary for Riays to be on dialysis until she is about 5 or 6 when, if everything is going well, she may be eligible for a kidney transplant.

The family lives in Upper Hutt, Wellington and Nga and Riays have only been home under 20 days in last year. Riays baby sister Hayven, who is now four months old, was born in starship. The rest of the family, Sam and their other 2 daughters try and visit where they can, funding for travel is limited for the family through the National Travel Association, Sam has to continue to work to support the family and with work and school makes visits hard, and times very stressful and expensive for the family.

"We need help keeping the family together, so they can focus on getting Riays better and making sure the other children are well looked after. The sibling are often overlooked as so much focus and attention go on the sick."

We know the family will prevail and remain strong till the end.

You can follow Riyas journey at: https://www.facebook.com/riaysasiata

We thank you for any help and prayers you can give to our family.

#TeamRiays