Help Ayla Thrive

Our beautiful Ayla has had an incredibly tough year. In June 2020 she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, in her right knee. Only 150 people a year get diagnosed with this disease, mostly children and teenagers, Ayla is 15 and the tumour had grown in her bone and muscle tissue above her knee.
Ayla was immediately put on intensive chemotherapy. This was a gruelling experience which involved her becoming very sick, loosing weight and her hair.

Ultimately it did not succeed in shrinking her tumour and in September 2020 she lost her leg above the knee. Following the operation, she continued chemotherapy treatment, spending nearly 3 weeks of every month in hospital. In late November the doctors told us that the chemo had not been successful and that whilst undergoing this preventative treatment, the cancer had metastasised  and formed 3 cancerous nodules on her lungs. These are slowly growing and the treatments for them are very limited, the hospital has ended her chemotherapy treatment, Ayla has been given 5 years to live. And Ayla wants to LIVE every moment, a vibrant, full and exciting life, filling as many years with all that she can.

Ayla has been absolutely incredible, she has faced each step of this journey with such grace and fortitude. She has a very tenacious character and only the day after her leg amputation, was out of bed into a wheel chair and soon in the gym learning how to move with her new ‘little leg’. Cool under pressure she coped with huge changes and immense pain with great strength and determination. Now her chemotherapy has stopped we are concentrating on getting her immunity strong again and building her health through diet, exercise, supplements and therapy. In January Ayla will be fitted with her prosthetic leg and will learn to walk again without crutches.

We are doing this crowdfund to raise money for Ayla’s wellbeing and the next steps on her journey. These are three fold –
 
·      Funds will go towards buying a micro-processor Prosthetic leg, which works on all terrains. Ergonomic crutches so that she can cook independently – cooking is one of her passions, and accessories to make movement fluid. 
·      We are following a range of alternative therapies to supplement her health and Ayla needs regular therapy sessions, chiropractic, journey work, herbal and nutritionist support. This is in addition to her being signed up for an immunotherapy treatment trial – we will find out in 3 months from the hospital consultants if her tumour is a viable match for the trial. All of these things have a significant cost attached to them and money raised will go towards the costs of any relevant therapies and supplements Ayla needs.
·      Ayla’s dream has always been to travel, she loves the ocean and marine life. Ayla particularly wants to scuba dive, to swim with sharks and go diving in the great barrier reef. Shes keen to go to Bali, New Zealand and India, travelling across the countries experiencing new things, tasting new food and finding interesting recipes. Ayla has been researching retreats around the world that can help support her system, she is keen to go to a specialist cancer retreat so that she can focus on her well-ness. The remainder of the money raised will go towards the cost for Ayla`s world experience trip abroad, this will most likely happen in late 2021 or 2020 dependant on the Covid pandemic.
 
 
Ayla is an articulate and expressive young woman, who has grown in leaps and bounds through this life changing but ultimately life affirming experience, in her own words she explains:
 ‘I was totally shocked when I was first diagnosed with cancer, I just had a sore knee and the physiotherapist recommended an x-ray – I never expected this to happen to me. Its been a really hard time, I really hated having to go through the Chemotherapy treatment, I got so thin and was really sick. But it has also really changed how I feel about life, I really think I’ve been happier since I had cancer and now I really am sure I'm going to do all these amazing things like going travelling and sky diving – the make a wish foundation  is helping me to do that this year- i’m so excited. I will use some of the therapy money to pay for my mum Nasy to have a relaxing treatment every week too because she has spent all her time this year looking after me, she slept every night in hospital with me and I think she needs something nice for her too.’

Ultimately this fundraiser is about Ayla’s quality of life. We really want your help to enable her not just to live, but to thrive, to live her fullest life possible, however long that may be. So with your generosity we can explore all the alternative avenues to promote Ayla’s health and well-being, whilst also giving her the chance to truly live her dreams.