Specialist Surgery in the USA for Hirschsprungs Warrior Rhys.

Our gorgeous boy Rhys has had 16 surgeries in New Zealand and despite this still suffers excruciating pain when he poo’s, which can be up to 40 times a day.

Rhys was born with Hirschsprungs Disease, which involves missing nerve cells in the muscles in part of the large intestine, present at birth it causes difficulty passing stool and can lead to serious bowel infection and obstruction and in some cases death. Rhys became very sick hours after birth and was transferred to Starship Hospital where he spent 3 weeks in NICU and had his first surgery at 10 days old. Rhys also has other congenital conditions, including a hole in his heart and Mosaic Down Syndrome, so has spent a lot of his life in hospital.

Rhys now has the opportunity to be treated by Dr Marc Levitt in Washington D.C. Dr Levitt is the worlds number 1 specialist in colorectal conditions, including Hirschsprung. Dr Levitt wants to remove further parts of Rhys’ large intestine.

This surgery will give Rhys a shot at a pain free life, to not be tied to a hospital bed and to be out living a normal life like other children his age. This disease is robbing our beautiful boy of his childhood. It is unbelievably hard on Rhys’ family both emotionally and financially.

We would be extremely grateful for any support to get Rhys to the USA to see Dr Levitt at Children’s National Hospital. This is our last chance at giving Rhys a pain free and normal life. The cost of getting Rhys to Dr Levitt for treatment is (at today’s exchange rate) approximately $150,000 NZD (this includes, flights, cost of surgery, hospital stay and accommodation).

Wonderful family and friends have shown huge support throughout the last two years and have also offered to help financially to get Rhys to America, so we have set up this Give A Little page to provide an easy platform for them and anyone else who can help to make that possible.

Find out more about Rhys' journey here, through Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Rhys-Hirschsprungs-Warrior-102652481373372/?epa=SEARCH_BOX