THE parents of 16-month-old Ariel Tia Ali are in need of $471,530 for multiple surgeries that would give her a better chance in life.
Ariel was born with a cleft lip and palate and bilateral talipes, or club foot, and her right leg is shorter than her left because she has no femur bone.
Due to her cleft lip she cannot drink from a bottle or nurse.
Due to regular environmental contaminants, Ariel has difficulty breathing and gets the cold very often. To treat her breathing problems, the Munroe Road, Cunupia, family bought a nebuliser machine, which administers drugs via a mist, and they treat her using the breathing medication Ventolin.
Ariel has to use the nebuliser every day for two hours, her parents Wazeem and Cindy said.
Her other conditions include the blood disorder anaemia, fluid in her ear and congenital heart disease ASD (atrial septic defect). The family has to purchase Ventolin at about $100 a bottle, and saline drips, which is $15 for 10 millilitres; Ariel has to take three millilitres every two hours.
The family, who visited the Express on Wednesday, said they have been given a quotation from an Argentinian hospital for the surgeries which cannot be done locally to fix the cleft palate. They said, as a result of the cleft lip, feeding Ariel is difficult and she now weighs close to eight pounds.
Last year a US doctor informed the parents that Ariel, whose health is worsening, requires immediate treatment for her CHARGE syndrome.
The couple said they went to the Children’s Life Fund and were told they needed to be referred.
However, officials at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital informed the family that the surgery would not be approved by the Life Fund, so they should not even bother.
Anyone willing to assist can donate to Republic Bank Account number 150480457901.
