ESTEVAN — A GoFundMe campaign has been created to help an Estevan-area family cover the cost of a needed surgery for their daughter.
Kimberley Dyck created the campaign, Help Aubrey Walk, for her four-year-old daughter Aubrey, saying the time has finally come for Kimberley and her husband Tanner to really lean on the community.
"It has come to my attention I cannot, no matter how hard I try, make remotely enough money at home while being Aubrey’s primary caregiver to fund our next steps myself," Kimberley wrote for the campaign. "Thank you so much for following and supporting my creative ideas to make money for our family the last five years."
As of the morning of May 30, the campaign had raised $5,770 of its $90,000 goal, with 53 donors thus far.
Kimberley said many asked her family if they would fundraise, but she didn’t want to and added she was "terrified" to rely on others financially. She says it’s time to trust that Aubrey will be able to access what is available for her, in what the Dycks hope will be the final chapter in Aubrey's disability.
In the campaign write-up, Kimberley shared that between six and nine months of age, Aubrey started to show delays in her milestones. By 11 months, Kimberley had a gut feeling something was off and booked Aubrey to see their family physician, who agreed that Aubrey needed to see a paediatrician for a more thorough examination, which took some time.
"By this time Aubrey was bum shuffling and getting quite good at it. Our paediatrician found it quite interesting and was convinced Aubrey had CP [cerebral palsy]," said Kimberley. "She ran tonnes of tests that all came back negative and so began more and more referrals and tests."
Aubrey’s shuffling advanced to bunny hops to knee walking, and by the age of three, Kimberley said her daughter finally learned how to crawl like a baby but preferred knee walking. Aubrey just celebrated her fourth birthday and has been through all Canada has to offer for testing and imaging to explain her symptoms, which ruled out CP.
The family is still waiting on a full DNA panel but that can take two to four years, and since Kimberley said the family is classified as non-urgent, they will be waiting a long time. Casting was unsuccessful, as she started showing signs of skin breakdown immediately.
"She has seen several specialists with no answers as to why her body performs the way it does," Kimberley wrote.
She has shared her story on social media and has befriended someone who took the time to go over her story and all her son went through, including the therapy and surgeon they used. Others have been through the same experience, Kimberley said.
They have been seeing the same therapist since November, and Kimberley said they have seen incredible improvements with Aubrey’s speech, movement and stability.
"Within 10 minutes of our first appointment I felt like I got a better understanding of Aubrey than I have in three years of seeing surgeons and specialists."
But the therapy is also very expensive.
"Since there are no reasons as to why Aubrey can’t walk she’s a great candidate for surgery and we have decided to take the next steps to have SPML [selective percutaneous myofascial lengthening] surgery in NJ [New Jersey] and with that they need rehabilitation to make sure Aubrey unlearns old habits of a high arch and learns to walk with her heels down so we don’t have to do surgery again."
They are raising funds for the surgery, travel, food and accommodations, special ankle-foot orthosis and therapy post operation. They are aiming for surgery in September as they hope to have it done and a big chunk of rehab completed before she starts kindergarten.
Those who want to follow online with Aubrey's journey can go to @aubreysplaytherapy on Instagram.
Kimberley said she wants to give "the biggest virtual hug" to parents who have undergone medical treatments or surgeries with their kids, because it is a difficult experience.
