Ivan & his family

Dear friends, family and kind humans,

We come to you with hopeful hearts and ask for your support for Ivan; a sweet and optimistic 7 year old boy who has a very rare vascular brain condition known as cerebral proliferative angiopathy. There are only a handful of children worldwide who have this condition and because of the complexities of the brain, each child presents differently depending on what part and how much of the brain is affected, this means each child is treated differently. The condition affects blood supply to the brain and therefore Ivan has stroke symptoms which requires him to often use a wheel chair for mobility, extensive therapies both in and out of school (physical therapy, aqua therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy) and to be completely dependent on others for all actives that he used to be able to do independently (bathing, eating, using the toilet). Ivan is incredibly lucky that his mom Kat, is fierce and determined to give him every chance to maintain his current function and regain function he has lost. She spends countless hours finding physicians all over the world who have experience with this condition, takes him to Boston to see top specialists and is in contact with state of the art rehab facilities world-wide that may be able to help him. Kat has found him a world-class surgeon who feels a brain surgery may help restore blood flow to the part of Ivan’s brain that is affected and this is set to take place this November. After that, Ivan should be spending 4-6 weeks at a rehabilitation center in Massachusetts to get extensive therapy.

Kat’s goal is to give Ivan every chance he has to walk independently again and to continue to be a happy innocent child, but this of course has come with great health care expenses. She has never once asked for help, but as her friend, colleague and support team we have offered. Kat will need to take a leave of absence from work to be with Ivan during his upcoming surgery and extensive rehabilitation further adding to the financial burden.

Please consider supporting Ivan’s journey and sending kind thoughts and well wishes to both him and his family during this time. Any funds raised will go directly to Ivan’s mom, Kat to help pay for health care and living expenses.

Any donation, no matter how small will make a difference because we are aware that the strength of a community can really change this burden for Ivan and his family. We also ask that you consider sharing this link with friends, family and social networks.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Friends of Kat, Ivan and Nina at Martins Point Health Care