Nine-year-old Rose-Leigh Usher has been given an extra week to find the funds for her life-saving transplant.
|||Durban - Rose-Leigh Usher, the Durban girl whose family and friends have been frantically trying to raise money for her to have a life-saving bone marrow stem cell transplant, has been given an extra week to find the funds.
The nine-year-old suffers from a rare, aggressive cancer.
Doctors found a match for her in the US as there are none in the South African Bone Marrow Registry.
The marrow was initially reserved for her until Thursdat and her family had to raise R500 000 for her to get the transplant.
They have raised more than R270 000 but were desperate to raise the rest of the money before the deadline.
Now that deadline has been pushed back by more than a week.
On Tuesday, Dr Yasmin Goga, the paediatric haematology consultant at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, who has been treating Rose-Leigh, said she had called the US registry and asked for an extension while the family and the public tried to raise the R500 000.
“They have agreed that they will only reserve it for another seven to 10 days… after that they can no longer reserve it for her. I have faith that the money will be raised and in time,” she said.
For the past two weeks, friends, family, businesses, schools, among many others, have all come together for Rose-Leigh and made donations after donations in an attempt to raise the money in time to save her life.
Goga said Rose-Leigh had to have the transplant within the next six to eight weeks because there were only six beds at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town where the transplant would be performed.
“We need to get her a bed as soon as possible because patients usually stay there for, at least, two months after procedures. Time is what we do not have right now, but we have hope,” she said.
Speaking to the Daily News on Tuesday, a day after she was discharged from the hospital after completing her seven planned cycles of intensive chemotherapy, the very bubbly Rose-Leigh said she could not wait to go to Cape Town to get her transplant.
“When I come back, I know that I will be better and go back to school,” she said.
When asked what her dreams were, Rose-Leigh said she wanted to be either a professional chef or designer.
“I love cooking and baking. I also love clothes and shoes, I love high heels and ball gowns this big,” she said demonstrating how wide the gowns should be.
Her mother, Rosemary Ullbricht, said she was very grateful for all the help and support that they had received in the past few weeks.
“There is one thing that I will not do. I will not let my baby die. I just can’t,” she said.
Ullbricht said if the money was not raised in time, she was planning on taking out a personal loan to raise the difference.
“I have to try and that is my last resort. I am so humbled by the number of people who have shown so much love for her. I will remain forever grateful,” she said.
Rose-Leigh’s father, Owen Usher, said watching his child in pain was the worst thing for any parent.
“She is a fighter. She is full of life and being sick has never ever put her down. My prayer is that she gets the transplant. It has been a long journey,” he said.
Rose-Leigh was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer, hepatosplenic gamma-delta T-cell lymphoma in June last year.
The cancer is also described as being a generally incurable form of lymphoma with the longest survival being 16 months and most patients dying from the disease within six months to a year.
Donations can be made to the Rose-Leigh Emily Usher Trust, Standard Bank current account number 051707772. The branch code is 043326.
Daily News