There was a time in life when Lisa grew tired of asking her parents when she’d be free of constant injections and hospital visits over the last few months. Just seven years old, this sweet girl from Broken Hill, NSW was diagnosed with leukemia in mid-2020. In her short life she had spent almost over a year in the hospital, undergoing rigorous treatment for her illness.
Lisa couldn’t walk, eat, sleep, play or attend primary school like the other kids of her age.
Lisa’s parents were told by the specialist doctors that she’d need a bone marrow transplant to survive.
To add to Lisa’s desperate situation, her father works as a security guard and her mother as a part-time call centre worker have already spent very dollar their savings and have asked friends and family to help them. They took out a larger mortgage on their home yet they still fell short in covering the long list of expenses they have faced over the last year.
Lisa and her mother had travelled to Melbourne, a nine hour plus drive from their home for specialist care. Her father had to stay home and care for Lisa’s younger brother and sister and of course continue working full-time to earn money to feed, clothe and house their family in addition to the myriad of related expenses. Although the hospital-based treatments are funded by the Federal Government, so many of the expenses of travel, accommodation, child-care whilst Lisa’s father is working the list goes on and on.
It’s when Lisa’s parents were referred to the JSF for medical expenses help that they breathed a huge sigh of relief. As her mother said, “The hope for our future was restored by the generosity and wonderful support of the JSF. We now are donors to the JSF so we can be part of helping someone else like Lisa.”
