Lara Van Lelyveld, a 37-year-old teacher, battles against a rare illness to save her voice and get back to her dream job.
Western Cape, South Africa (05 August 2021) – Anyone can live a simple life, giving up at the sign of any discomfort, but it takes a genuine survivor to fight for their dreams despite any obstacle they face along the way. Lara Van Lelyveld is living proof of this.
What started as a seemingly simple breathing issue shortly after landing her dream job revealed its true colours. Lara had just got the job as the Head of English at Curro, Century City, when she was diagnosed with a rare disease, Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis. Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis causes the patient’s trachea to narrow down due to scar tissue development in the throat area, which causes discomfort, breathing difficulties and loss of voice.
Her journey through the treatment has been hard enough, starting with an endoscopic dilation of the tracheal stenosis, which proved to be in vain. After that, the doctors tried various ways to avoid the growth of the scar tissue, but it kept growing back aggressively.
Currently, she is under the care of Professor Lubbe, but still, her condition has seen no improvement. The doctors have informed Lelyveld that she might not be able to take up her dream job again or go back to her everyday life. Despite the physical and emotional distress she is facing, Lelyveld fights against the disease with all her strength.
Adding to these issues, her medical expenses have increased as her treatment continues, burdening her mind further. Thus, her near and dear ones started a campaign, BackaBuddy, trying to raise as many funds as they could to help her through the process of recovery.
So far, they have managed to raise over R40 000 towards the overall target of R50 000. People around the globe who are aware of this situation continue to pray for Lelyveld’s full recovery in the near future.
If you would like to support Lara’s medical cause, you can donate via BackaBuddy here.