Chelsea White is six years old and in grade 1. She has an infectious smile and a shy disposition. She's agreeable, smart, funny, quirky and very cute. You can't help but adore Chelsea within minutes of meeting her. She has a little 4-year old brother and a 12-year old half-brother. She likes the same things that most little girls do- playing with her dolls, horse back riding, singing, dancing, drawing, colouring and playing with her DS.
What makes Chelsea different from most is that she was diagnosed with Arterial Venous Malformation (AVM) in the right hemisphere of her brain within 24 hours of her birth. In her first day of life, in addition to this diagnoses, she suffered from at least one stroke (which resulted in some paralysis on her left side), numerous seizures and was found to have an enlarged heart and venous return. She was in the hospital for the first four weeks of her life.
Everyday of her life, Chelsea lives with the life-threatening danger of a fatal bleed from the AVM. Chelsea's quality of life will be greatly improved by a brain surgery she will be undergoing in California at Stanford University in June 2011 which will remove the AVM. Chelsea will be accompanied by her mom, Shannon.
The surgery is covered by MSI as well as Chelsea's airfare. Up until a few days days ago, Chelsea's mom, Shannon, had to pay her own way to accompany Chelsea during the child's 6-8 week stay at hospital in California.
UPDATE: CHELSEA'S STORY HAS CHANGED GOVERNMENT POLICY
On May 23, 2011, NDP member for Lunenburg West, Gary Ramey, announced that starting June 1, 2011, guardians travelling outside of the province to accompany a child who is to have medical treatment not available in Nova Scotia, will be reimbursed $1000 for airfare and $125 per day for accomodations. Shannon is thrilled over this decision, more for the parents coming up behind her who won't need to face what she has faced than for herself. It never was her intention to ask the governement to pay her way.... it just kind of happened. We thank Gary Ramey and the NDP government for their support of Chelsea and changing policy.
When the news of the policy change was announced, supporters of Shannon and Chelsea were relieved and thankful, but will continue fundraising efforts. Shannon will still loose her wages for 6-8 weeks (or more if Chelsea needs radiation upon returning home) and in California will need to payout for transportation, food, any unforseen expenses. Chelsea's Dad, Daune, is an auto-mechanic and Shannon works three part-time jobs just to get by.
Donations of any size are appreciated. Thank you.
Please read more about Chelsea, her condition and her much needed operation.
