Sarah looks fine, but she isn't. Help us give Sarah a chance to get her life back.

Four years ago, a whiplash accident changed everything. What looked like whiplash was a serious C5/C6 spinal injury. ACC initially declined her claim, calling it "degenerative" - a fight so many people will recognise - delaying her surgery by two years. Even after the operation, the pain never stopped.

Sarah lives with severe pain 24/7. Constant nausea, headaches, and positional pain mean she survives on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Her memory and concentration have suffered. She's lost 20% of her body weight, her independence, and her career as an artist. Because she looks "fine," she's been dismissed, told it's "all in her head" - even turned away by a specialist who treats her exact condition.

Finally, two overseas doctors found the answer: her jugular vein is 80% compressed by a bone in her neck - Neurovascular Eagle syndrome. Only a handful of surgeons worldwide treat it. To our knowledge just 6 people in New Zealand currently live with it. It is a very rare and complex condition. There is no surgical pathway here. Left untreated, it will only get worse.

We've found a surgeon in Turkey who can help. Sarah travels in November for surgery and a three-week recovery.

Total cost: $52,000 NZD. We're contributing $20,000 ourselves and need to raise $32,000 to get her there.

She's not asking for sympathy. She's asking for a chance to have less pain, to be present for her girls, to become herself again.

If you can give, thank you. If you can only share, that helps too.

Dave & Sarah