Tiana-Leigh Lung Foundation
Donation protected
10 of us are completing the Surrey Three Peaks challenge to raise funds for an incredible 17 year old, Tiana-Leigh, who lives in South Africa. She has a rare lung disease that requires her to be connected to oxygen tanks 24/7.
We are hoping to raise enough money to purchase a power inverter to keep her safe during the regular power cuts in South Africa, which pose a huge risk to her life. We hope that you can support us!
More Information ——
Tiana is an incredible 17 year old who was born with a rare lung condition called ABCA3, has Pulmonary Hypertension, and has also survived kidney cancer. Unfortunately Tiana cant even go 30 seconds without being attached to an oxygen cylinder.
Sadly because of her condition, she can’t go to school, as trying to leave the house is a mission.
To go out, she needs to change from the oxygen concentrator to a small oxygen bottle. Her mum then has to pick up the very heavy concentrator, and put it in the boot of the car, to run off the car battery. When everything, including plenty of spare oxygen bottles is loaded in the car, Tiana gets in and changes from the small oxygen bottle to the large concentrator.
When you get to your destination, you then have to reverse the process, and put Tiana back on the small oxygen bottle. If you are just going shopping, it can only be for a maximum of one hour, as the smaller oxygen bottles make it harder for Tiana to breathe. Also, Tiana does not have the strength to carry one of the small oxygen bottles, so someone has to walk slowly next to her to carry it for her. If on the odd occasion they go to a restaurant, they have to ask for a table near a plug point, so that her big oxygen concentrator can be plugged in.
As Tiana can’t go out very much, she doesn’t have any friends her own age, and her constant companions are her beloved dogs. She keeps herself occupied by listening to music, and is quite a good little singer, when she has enough breath to do so. Her mum, Alta, founded a foundation to try help Tiana and other children like her.
The reason we are appealing for your help is because power cuts are becoming more and more prevalent in South Africa and when this happens, it is quite literally a life-threatening situation.
The alarm will sound on the oxygen concentrator, and Tianas mum Alta has to switch Tiana to an oxygen bottle, run outside to start up a very old generator. She then comes inside again and switches Tiana back to the big concentrator, but then has to wait up, so when the electricity comes on again, she can reverse the process.
As I’m sure you can guess, this process is leaving them both very vulnerable to attack, as things are not safe in South Africa.
We are wanting to raise some money to buy a 220V inverter and batteries for inside the house, so when the power goes off, the concentrator will automatically switch from electricity to running off batteries to remove the risk to both Tiana and Alta.
Anything extra will help greatly for the Tiana-Leigh lung foundation.
We would really appreciate any help you can give in these difficult times
TIANA-LEIGH LUNG FOUNDATION
Dare to Thrive-not just Survive
Organizer
Mo Robinson
Organizer