Fundraising for SDR surgery in Nottingham

eliseland

Greetings from Norway,

A few months ago, me and my partner (girlfriend) made a fundraiser, so that my partner will get to have a surgery (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) in England.

Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy is a surgery to permanently remove painful spasticity.

Silje (my partner) is living with Cerebral Palsy, and daily struggling with painful spasms in her body.
She is 28 years old, and originally comes from a small village called Kleive, located not far from the city of Molde in Norway. The last few years Silje have been living in the city of Trondheim.

Personally I am 37 years old, and originally come from the city of Måløy, at the northwestern coast of Norway. The last few years, I have been living in a small village called Davik, located not far from Måløy.

We have contacted hospitals both in England and the United States, since the operation is neither supported nor performed in Norway.

The Norwegian state will not be financing the operation, since this is not done here. The reason for this is that the health service disagrees with the criteria for performing the operation. This despite the fact that both adults and children are operated both in England and the United States and proved successful.

We have recently been at the first consultation with the University Hospital in Nottingham, England. The neurosurgeon we had encountered said yes to operate Silje.
The surgery and intensive physiotherapy at the hospital for 2 weeks will cost
17 000 £ (170000 NOK).

About 1 month ago we started a fundraising campaign through social media. We are also selling things online, and holding flea markets, in order to raise more funds.
Neither of us works, so we really need the help and giving kindness from people and businesses from worldwide, to get the funds for this surgery.

We are wondering if anybody could help us in getting contact with media and bloggers abroad? to get the news out there about out fundraiser.

Also we are wondering if you know of anybody else as adults having or hav had SDR surgery?

Sincerely, Elise and Silje

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @eliseland, and welcome to the community! Thank you for sharing your story, and best of luck with your upcoming fundraising. 

Scope have some great advice on doing your own fundraising. There is practical fundraising help, as well as tips on raising your own money. 

It's also great that you've been using social media: make sure you're adding relevant hashtags to your tweets as they'll help you reach a wider audience of potential donators. Tweeting celebrities/people with large numbers of followers can sometimes be effective too. Best of luck!