I can’t believe it’s been so much time since my niece was born. I still remember waking up to a phone call from my younger brother telling me I was going to be an uncle, telling me he was going to become a father. And I remember going to the hospital to meet my niece for the first time, to see her swaddled and sleeping. But what I remember most came a few days later when I saw her at home for the first time: I remember her eyes; I remember how I thought that they shone like the stars in the night sky; I remember how their newness looked like a galaxy of possibility.
The problem with possibility is that good is as likely as bad. It’s been half a decade since those days and so many things have changed since then. That niece is now one of two, we’re living in the midst of a global pandemic, and my younger brother, my nieces’ father, is in desperate need.
The story of my family has been told many times, but the focus was always on myself and my older brother. My elder brother and I living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy meant that our family had to provide every physical necessity for the two of us. They have never begrudged us for it, but it has certainly taken its toll on their bodies.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what Reece has done for us. Since childhood, he and my two wonderful younger sisters have helped my older brother and I damn near every way imaginable. He’s clothed us, he’s fed us, he’s bathed us, he’s driven us (both physically and up the wall), he’s lifted wheelchairs out of holes, and he’s carried drunk idiots to bed. He’s helped us to live as full a life as possible, and it’s hurt him in return.
Again, he has never begrudged my older brother or I for the physical labour he had to do due to our circumstances. And now, he is desperately in need of spinal surgery. Now, it’s my turn to do the little I can to pay back Reece for everything he has done for us; it’s my job to ask you, if you can, please help. There is no singular heroic event that led to Reece’s spinal disrepair, but a lifetime of service.
The problem with possibility is that good is as likely as bad. The bad has happened. But I now ask, if you can, to please help contribute to my brother’s surgical fund. With the surgery he needs, there is a possibility that my brother can return home to play with his daughters again. My niece’s eyes saw the potential of life before her, and I need that to include quality time with her father once more.
My Perfect Family: Ebony Sinclair
Ebony Sinclair is a go-getter born with Achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. Ebony and her husband Ge...
My Perfect Family:Fragile X
To discover you’re the carrier of the genetic condition Fragile X only after your children are born ...
My Perfect Family: Nash Jones
The Jones family’s life changed forever when their youngest boy Nash was diagnosed with a rare condi...
My Perfect Family
Exploring the day today lives of tight-knit families, who are managing complex or unusual conditions...
My Perfect Family: Lydia Golding
6-year-old Lydia Golding was born with her right femur bone significantly shorter than her left. In...
My Perfect Family: Hatty
Hatty Walton is a 13-year-old star on the show Mystic, who lives with a hearing impairment. Hatty ho...
My Perfect Family: Twins
For young mum Nikki Stokes being a mother of five means there's never a dull moment. With non-verbal...
My Perfect Family: Georgia Heard
Georgia Heard thought she had parenting all mapped out. But when the younger of her two boys was di...
My Perfect Family: Bold As Brass
As New Zealanders living in Australia, Abbi and Morgan Brass received no government support when the...
My Perfect Family: Sam and Jason
Sam lost her sight as a baby due to meningitis, and her husband Jason has limited vision due to a ge...
My Perfect Family: Zoe
Zoe Tate lives with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting her appearance, growth an...
My Perfect Family: No Respite
Life during a pandemic is a challenge for all parents with kids at home. But for parents whose child...
My Perfect Family: Jo & Leon
Young doctor Jo Scott’s career was on the rise when a brain haemorrhage changed her life. Seven year...
My Perfect Family: OCD
For two teenage sisters living with OCD, the world can often be an uncertain and scary place. In the...
My Perfect Family: Welcome Home Stevie
Murray and Janine's son Steven was a gentle boy with autism. 18 months ago he left their house with ...
My Perfect Family: Max and Grace
Siblings Max and Grace are off on a road trip to Queenstown, putting Max's independence to the test ...
My Perfect Family: The Fergusons Part 1
The Fergusons are an average family of five; they have fun, they fight, but mostly they get along. ...
My Perfect Family: The Fergusons Part 2
Last week we met the Fergusons, a family of five who communicate using NZSL. Here, we join the Fergu...
My Perfect Family: Scruff's Bunch
Kim Preston (Scruff) reckon's she'll be caring for her three adult sons with Autism until she 'carks...
My Perfect Family: Kat and Ella
Kat Yearbury is a mother to two-year-old Frankie and six-year-old Ella, who has Cerebral Palsy and E...
My Perfect Family: Tiffiney Perry
Always an active person, Tiffiney Perry continued participating in sports and achieving success afte...
My Perfect Family: Martine
Blind since birth, Martine Able-Williamson is now a global leader in the blind community. In this i...
My Perfect Family: Courtenay
Demar Gear was just five months old when she contracted meningitis, leaving her unable to walk or ta...
My Perfect Family: Southland Lockdown
Awards Night is the highlight of the social calendar for a vulnerable workforce at Southland Disabil...
My Perfect Family: The Priestleys
Four of the six Priestley family members live with Autism. Because they’re able to function at a hig...
My Perfect Family: Family Man Graeme
When Graeme Porter was diagnosed with an intellectual disability as a child no one expected him to r...
My Perfect Family: Grace Payne
Grace Payne is a powerlifter who has competed in the Special Olympics as an autistic athlete. Now, 2...
My Perfect Family: Candle Dad
Raising four children alone is a challenge - more so, when two have Down Syndrome. Tony Sykes rose t...
My Perfect Family: Southland
Southland Disability Enterprises employs over 80 people who live with a disability. For Mary-Ellen J...
My Perfect Family: Harper Ahern
Since being diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at age four, 10-year-old surfer Harper and his family ...
My Perfect Family: Kim Preston
Raising three boys is always a big task, especially when two of them have severe autism. But Kim Pre...
My Perfect Family: Creative Clan
Ranger Ashurst is eleven and needs regular injections to control his Chrone's disease, his eight yea...
My Perfect Family: Malaena Cariño
12-year-old Malaena Cariño has a rare genetic form of epilepsy. Her whānau have exhausted most treat...
My Perfect Family: Meet the Asners
They call themselves the "The Brady Bunch of Autism". Descendants of Hollywood royalty, Matt and Nav...
My Perfect Family: Hunter
Hunter McGregor is a passionate gamer, a design school graduate, and he runs a B&B with his mum, Roi...
My Perfect Family: Cystic Sisters
Kristy and Nikki are sisters and young mums who bring smiles to the faces of strangers by doing surp...
My Perfect Family: Tara Aumalesulu
Nine year old Tara is launching her very first album, Pele O Lo’u Fatu. Living with visual impairmen...
My Perfect Family: CDKL5
Learning your new baby has a complex rare condition is life altering. Three Mums connect over their ...
Brothers and Sisters
The unique perspective of those closest to us, our brothers and sisters.
My Perfect Family: Mahia & Tipene
Mahia and Tipene Stephens were born with a congenital eye disorder, causing their eyesight to deteri...
My Perfect Family: Melody
Within just one year Melody entirely lost her vision, gave birth to her first child, and left her ho...
My Perfect Family: Friedreich's Ataxia
Preparing for a 30th birthday is a big deal in the Boon family. Three out of five siblings live with...
My Perfect Family: Tri Rugby
For members of Christchurch's Tri Rugby team - who live with intellectual disabilities - rugby is mo...
My Perfect Family: Little People
The 50th annual conference for Little People of New Zealand (LPNZ) is fast approaching, and 27-year-...
My Perfect Family: Jaxon Woolley
15 year old Jaxon Woolley is already blitzing through para-sprinting records. An athlete to watch, J...
My Perfect Family: Alex
Performance is in the Walsh family’s DNA. When their youngest son Alex was born with Down syndrome, ...
My Perfect Family: Perrones
Young anime artist Bee Perrone lives with the rare condition, Ivemark Syndrome. Understanding this i...
Reece urgently needs to get to Germany for disc-replacement surgery.
Two of the discs in his spine have prolapsed for a fourth time and he's had three discectomy operations since 2013 (2013, 2015, & 2017).
Disc Replacement Surgery is the evolution of traditional spine fusion. Unlike traditional fusion, it allows the spine to maintain movement of the vertebrae at the treated levels. This significantly reduces the overloading of levels above and below the treated level, which causes the ongoing issues that come along with spine fusion.
Germany has pioneered this method of disc-replacement and the rest of the world are starting to come on-board and recognise the research and benefits and are beginning to adopt the practice.
Germany has a purpose-built spine clinic and rehabilitation centre which are second-to-none, and their surgeons have performed over 4500 disc replacements each.
