Friends and family are rallying around a Timaru family hoping to raise enough money to take their 3-year-old daughter to the United States for cancer treatment.
Indie Todd was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumour earlier this year and survived an 11-hour surgery to remove 95% of the tumour.
She has just completed her sixth and final round of chemotherapy, and the family hopes she will be discharged from Christchurch Hospital in the next week or so and return to Timaru after being in hospital for six months.
Parents Shaun and Haylee Todd, 5-month-old baby Hudson, along with Indie’s grandparents, Ainslie and Malcolm Peck, will then await a date to travel to Atlanta for proton therapy — described as a safer, more direct radiation treatment — at the Emory Clinic, possibly in December or early January, and could be away for up to 10 weeks.
Local business U-Bake has come on board, creating a range of fundraising range of pink donuts and Care Bear and gingerbread men cookies, available to order from November 3 to 15.
Indie has been described as the ‘‘perfect candidate’’ for highcost treatment pool funding, after her neurosurgeon said she was a ‘‘miracle’’ for surviving, unimpaired, surgery to remove the rare tumour that occupied 40% of her head.
Proton therapy is a form of radiation therapy that targets tumours while minimising damage to healthy tissue and is the last crucial step in Indie’s treatment.
Mr Todd said watching their daughter go through such an ordeal was the ‘‘hardest thing’’ for any parent to endure.
‘‘Imagine your kid having the worst tummy bug they’ve ever had, along with a sniffly nose, diarrhoea, tummy cramps and just sitting with them waiting for the worst thing ever to happen to them.
‘‘Some days it doesn’t happen, and other days it does and then it’s the weird little things that stress her out the most, like having to get a dressing change.
‘‘It’s just constant and it’s brutal and it sucks — no-one should have to go through it,’’ he said.
‘‘But at the same time, I’m proud that she fights. She tells you what she likes and what she doesn’t.
‘‘She’s incredible. We’re very, very proud to be her mum and dad.’’
The medical support their daughter had received had been first class, Mr Todd said.
‘‘Because her situation was so dire, the medical teams have been so amazing and attentive, we’ve been very, very fortunate with her surgeon.
‘‘The team here in Christchurch have been exceptional too,’’ he said.
He said the support had been ‘‘overwhelming’’.
Mr Todd gave up his job to care for Indie as did Haylee’s mother Ainslie. Now they have to work out how they can all afford to live in America for 10 to 12 weeks and cover accommodation costs alone of up to $20,000.
While accommodation and treatment would likely be covered for Indie and possibly one support person, the family hoped to travel together, along with Indie’s grandmother Ainslie Peck, who would help to take care of Hudson, he said.
‘‘We’re just doing everything we can not to have to sell our house,’’ he said.
A givealittle page was set up by Mr Todd’s employer Lynn River in Geraldine.
Mr Todd said the work his family and friends were doing to try to raise funds for their trip was awesome.
- Orders for the pink donuts, sugar donuts, care bear cookies and gingerbread cookies can be emailed to [email protected] and the givealittle page can be found at givealittle.co.nz/cause/ supporting-indie-and-the-toddfamily.
