Dancer Abbygayle was left devastated after learning she had Scoliosis, a condition which causes the curving of the spine; her mother is trying to cover the cost of the surgery that will give her time to find a new dream.
Pretoria, South Africa (29 June 2022) – 12-year-old dancer Abbygayle du Plessis loves to dance; she spent hours dancing every day but one day, a case of bad backache turned her whole world around. Abbygale was later diagnosed with Scoliosis.
Abbygayle is a diligent Grade 7 student and the eldest of two daughters to single mom, Lia Pauley, who also looks after her mom, without any other financial assistance. The family struggles but together, they make things work.
When Lia took Abbygayle for a check-up a year and a half ago, she never imagined she would get the diagnosis of Scoliosis for her daughter. The diagnosis meant that Abbygayle’s spine was curving into the shape of an “S”. She had to give up her dream of becoming a dancer.
In a matter of a year, her spines has a 63% curve at the top and 55% curve at the bottom. The curving is putting a great deal of pressure on her internal organs, leaving her in pain, constantly nauseated and struggling to breath. It is starting to affect how she lives her life, preventing her from even getting homework done.
She needs surgery to correct the curving but sadly, Lia is not able to afford the medical aid needed to cover an operation at a private facility. The estimate for the surgery is R500,000.00.
Determined to get the surgery for Abbygale, Lia started raising money and was able to get R10,000. But she realised she needed a helping hand to get there faster. Lia reached out to the Jacaranda FM Good Morning Angels (GMA) and they answered her call.
The GMA team connected with Operation Healing Hands and through a series of sponsorships, fee-reductions and donations, have been able to get the surgery down to a cost of R150,000. They booked the surgery for the 20th of July 2022.
Operation Healing Hands is supported by top surgeons, medical practitioners and medical suppliers – who offer their time, skills and products free of charge to patients who cannot afford treatment. One of these specialists and his team will do Abbygayle’s surgery and treatment free of charge.
Wilgers Hospital has offered the team a vastly reduced rate for the costly theatre time and after care accommodation while Vertice MedTech will supply the internal prostheses needed, free of charge and Intamed Medical Technologies will supply all the Neuro monitoring needles free of charge.
The next step was to reach the goal of raising the outstanding R150,000. Lia already has the R10,000 so the shortfall is only R140,000. Jacaranda FM’s Good Morning Angels share the story and before long, donors stepped forward.
Caring Daisies has offered to cover R100,000 towards the balance and with that in hand, the Good Morning Angels fund provided the final R40,000.
Thanks to all these generous donors, Abbygayle’s pain can be eased and she can get the surgery that will make life more manageable. She may never be a dancer again, but she will be gifted the opportunity of time to find a new dream.
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