One Dollar Warriors - Fight for Ava

Meet Ava Campbell from Hamilton. Ava just has one dream at the moment... to be a normal eight year old that can do ‘normal’ eight year old stuff with her friends.

Ava has Cerebral Palsy and it makes life hard. She can walk by herself, but it hurts and she just can’t keep up with her friends, yet she so desperately wants to. The left side of Ava’s body is weak and stiff and causes lot’s of discomfort.

Keeping up with her two brothers, Aiden (6) and Cooper (5), and their dog Rosie is just impossible.

“What I really want most in the world is to be able to play netball and soccer. I just want to be able to do what other kids do.”

Ava’s cerebral palsy was caused by a bleed on her brain before she was born. However, it wasn’t diagnosed until she was 18-months-old. Since then, every eight months Ava has had to go to hospital for Botox treatment. This helps to relax the left side of her body, but she needs to have a general anaesthetic each time, which she hates, and is only temporary.

Ava has been given an opportunity to undergo surgery in America which could enable her to do everything she dreams of, but it’s going to cost $100,000. Ava and her family are doing all they can to raise these funds, and now they’ve asked us, the warrior clan to help.

What would happen in America?

The surgery in America is called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). It is conducted by Dr T S Park at St Louis Children’s Hospital, who has already helped over 3,000 people with cerebral palsy, 16 of whom are Kiwis.

The surgery would require Dr Park to cut the nerve in Ava’s back that is sending the wrong message to some of the muscles in her leg. This would permanently reduce the spasticity in her leg but would mean she would have to undergo lots of rehabilitation to build her strength up again.

The $100,000 is needed for the SDR surgery, as well as a second surgery to lengthen her muscles and the required four week period of rehabilitation for Ava in St Louis, with her Mum’s support.

If Ava can’t get this surgery, the left side of her body will remain tight and weak and will get worse as she gets older. No one should have to live in pain like this and her family are pleading for any help we can give them.