In just three months, a community has come together to raise over £43k to help a little girl get the life changing surgery she desperately needs. Seven-year-old Bella Mcloughlin, from Blaenau Gwent, is your typical girly girl, who loves singing, dancing and dressing up as a princess.
What sets Bella apart from her classmates is how she has never let having Diplegia Cerebral Palsy limit her ability to learn, play and have fun with friends. But as she has gotten older, her condition has become more painful. Bella was born premature at 33 weeks and spent 19 days in the nicu. At one years old, her parents noticed she wasn’t hitting her milestones, such as being able to sit or roll over, and when Bella finally began to walk at two years old, it became apparent that she may have cerebral palsy.
In 2020, after a long road of consultations, Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFOs) and physiotherapy, Bella was diagnosed with Diplegia Cerebral Palsy GMFCS level two, which causes her to experience difficulty walking long distances and balancing on uneven terrain, tiptoe walking, many falls and pain in her legs.
READ NEXT: Warning as non-covid virus leaves children struggling to breathe
Her mum, Siobhan Mcloughlin, 28, said that Bella is “a very strong determined little girl who doesn’t let nothing stop her”, but as she is getting older her symptoms are becoming more problematic and she’s starting to compare herself to her friends at school. She said: “As she’s getting older she’s starting to notice the difference and has been saying ‘I can’t do that’. So it’s starting to affect her in that sense.”
Siobhan said: “When we go out we take our little girls pram out with us for Bella to use when she gets tired - she gets in after five to ten minutes because her legs start hurting.” She added: “Bella can walk independently, but she walks on her tiptoes. She gets pains in her legs and after a lot of research, we decided on getting her SDR surgery.” Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) is a surgical procedure that reduces and removes spasticity in the lower limbs by cutting nerve fibres in the lower spine.
She said: “From speaking to other parents we knew it was going to be hard to get it on the NHS anyway, but we were told there was no funding available.
“We went down to the Portland Hospital in September and they said she was the perfect candidate [for the operation], as she’s independent and the surgery will just get rid of the spasticity in her legs - which is the main problem and causing her pain.”
SDR surgery costs around £36k, and the family will then need to fund 18 months of intensive physiotherapy, which is “just as important as the operation.” Bella’s parents looked at remortgaging their home and other options before deciding to start a fundraising campaign. She said: “There was no other option really because it's such a large chunk of money and we knew we couldn’t get it on the NHS. This surgery changes people’s lives and I just knew this is what we had to do for Bella, it’s just going to change her life and she can’t wait to have the operation herself.” She added that Bella “can’t wait to run just as fast as her friends.”
Siobhan said that the NHS can cover her physiotherapy once a week, but Bella requires it five times a week. The rest of the fundraised money will go towards ongoing physiotherapy and the parents have also put money aside for Bella’s future treatment. Siobhan added: “We’re trying to cover the initial year and we’re going to try and save up as much as we can too, to cover the rest of it because it is just so much money. It’s a crazy amount of money to find in such a short period of time.
“The support has been amazing. Back in November, Bella’s dad and 17 other men dressed up as grannies and walked up Pen-y-Fan - they raised around £4,500 towards Bella’s surgery. We’ve done event nights and Bella’s school did a non-uniform day - we’ve done loads to fundraise. It’s surprising how many people have come together to help, it’s really nice.”
So far, £43k has been raised and the goal is to reach £50k. Out of the money, £36k will be put towards Bella’s six-hour SDR operation, month-long hospital stay and daily physiotherapy, which takes place on February 11, 2023. Bella will then return home for 18 months of SDR physiotherapy. To donate to Bella’s fundraiser, visit just4children.org/bellassdrjourney.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) is a highly complex procedure that has a number of risks and complications. Where treatments such as SDR are not routinely available within NHS Wales, a clinician may submit a request for the treatment to be funded to an Individual Patient Funding Request (IPFR) panel in the appropriate Health Board.”
READ NEXT:
- The impacts of cold water swimming on our bodies as many head for festive dips
- Demoralised doctors in Wales consider industrial action for first time
- How long do strep A, Covid and flu last?
- Waiting list to see an NHS dentist in Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan tops more than 7,400
- The strict laws we were all living under this time last year that seem hard to believe now
