The Star: June 01, 2017
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Thursday <strong>June</strong> 1 2<strong>01</strong>7 3<br />
News<br />
More problems for Maddie<br />
Teenager<br />
determined<br />
to beat<br />
illness<br />
• By Gabrielle Stuart<br />
MADDIE COLLINS has spent<br />
most of her life battling kidney<br />
failure – now the 13-year-old<br />
has been dealt another lifethreatening<br />
blow.<br />
She was told last week while<br />
at <strong>Star</strong>ship Hospital for kidney<br />
treatment that her heart is also<br />
failing.<br />
If Maddie had a successful<br />
kidney transplant, her heart<br />
could recover, but without one,<br />
she would be at risk of a heart<br />
attack, her mother Sarah Manson<br />
Collins said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> news had hit Maddie and<br />
the whole family hard, she said.<br />
“She was in the room when<br />
they told us and she said, ‘okay,<br />
how many months have I got to<br />
live?’ We said, ‘no, it’s not like<br />
that, you’re going to be okay,’”<br />
she said.<br />
Kidney problems can force the<br />
heart to pump harder, putting a<br />
lot of strain on it. An American<br />
study has found children on dialysis<br />
for kidney problems were<br />
1000 times more likely to have a<br />
fatal heart attack.<br />
<strong>The</strong> family has been fundraising<br />
to take Maddie to <strong>The</strong> John<br />
Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore,<br />
United States, next month where<br />
more advanced treatment may<br />
make it easier to match a donated<br />
kidney.<br />
In 2<strong>01</strong>2, her father, Adam Collins,<br />
donated one of his kidneys<br />
to Maddie, but her body rejected<br />
it.<br />
“We know we’re fighting<br />
uphill to find a match for Maddie,<br />
but you’ve got to believe in<br />
miracles,” Mrs Manson Collins<br />
said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> treatment offered in the<br />
United States would make it<br />
less likely Maddie’s body would<br />
reject a donated kidney.<br />
However, it comes at a price –<br />
the full treatment is expected to<br />
cost about $350,000.<br />
Givealittle pages have already<br />
raised more than $80,000 for<br />
Maddie, and people in the community<br />
had also been incredibly<br />
generous, Mrs Manson Collins<br />
said.<br />
Many people, from family<br />
members to total strangers, had<br />
also volunteered to be tested to<br />
see if their kidneys might be a<br />
match for Maddie.<br />
She had no idea how many, as<br />
the family were not allowed to<br />
know unless a match was found.<br />
But even though none so far<br />
had matched Maddie, Mrs Manson<br />
Collins said every person<br />
willing to donate an organ had<br />
helped someone.<br />
“It’s not just about Maddie.<br />
We don’t have enough organ<br />
donors and that’s what this is<br />
about, so if I can make more<br />
people talk about organ donations<br />
I’ll have succeeded,” she<br />
said.<br />
She said Maddie had been<br />
finding things tough, as her<br />
treatment meant she missed a<br />
lot at her school, St Margaret’s<br />
College, and couldn’t do many<br />
things with her friends.<br />
“People say she looks so well,<br />
she looks so healthy, but you<br />
don’t see kidney failure until<br />
you lift up her shirt and see all<br />
those lines in her body,” she<br />
said.<br />
HOPEFUL: Maddie Collins<br />
and her mum Sarah Manson<br />
Collins learned last week<br />
that Maddie’s kidney disease<br />
has caused early stage heart<br />
failure – but they are hopeful<br />
she will recover with quick<br />
treatment. PHOTO: MARTIN<br />
HUNTER<br />
But she said Maddie’s love for<br />
animals, the people around her<br />
and her passion for life kept her<br />
strong.<br />
“Maddie is incredible. When<br />
she gets on her pony everything<br />
is right for her, even though I<br />
know how much energy it takes<br />
her to ride. Her inner strength<br />
puts some of us to shame sometimes,”<br />
she said.<br />
•Regular updates on<br />
Maddie’s condition will be<br />
posted on her Facebook<br />
page – www.facebook.<br />
com/groups/maddiecollins<br />
•Maddie’s givealittle<br />
page is www.<br />
givealittle.co.nz/cause/<br />
givethegiftoflifetomaddie<br />
•More information about<br />
becoming an organ donor<br />
or being tested to see if<br />
you would be a match<br />
can be found at www.<br />
cdhb.health.nz/Hospitals-<br />
Services/Specialist-Care/<br />
Nephrology/kidneydonation<br />
In Brief<br />
CRASH VICTIM NAMED<br />
<strong>The</strong> man who died when the car<br />
he was a passenger in crashed<br />
into a Mairehau house last week<br />
has been named. He was 26-yearold<br />
Bjorn Jabez James Mokoraka<br />
Waiti. <strong>The</strong> crash happened on<br />
Friday just after 10pm. <strong>The</strong> driver<br />
was taken to hospital with serious<br />
injuries. <strong>The</strong> investigation into<br />
the crash is ongoing. Meanwhile,<br />
a 24-year-old killed when his<br />
vehicle crashed into a tree on<br />
Easterbrook Rd, Fernside, on<br />
Tuesday morning has been<br />
named as Ethan Crone.<br />
RISK OF MYRTLE RUST<br />
Myrtle rust disease which can<br />
kill native trees could reach<br />
Christchurch. City council<br />
head of parks Andrew Rutledge<br />
said the disease, recently<br />
discovered in New Zealand,<br />
was likely to reach Christchurch<br />
“at some point”. Myrtle rust is<br />
an invasive fungus that attacks<br />
members of the myrtle family<br />
of plants, such as manuka, rata,<br />
kanuka and pohutukawa, feijoa<br />
and eucalyptus.<br />
SHOPLIFTER DETAINED<br />
Customers held onto a shoplifter<br />
who tried to steal tobacco at<br />
a Riccarton dairy until police<br />
arrived on Tuesday night. A<br />
23-year-old woman allegedly<br />
grabbed a packet of tobacco<br />
and attempted to run from the<br />
Naresh Foodstore on Riccarton<br />
Rd at about 7.45pm. Police said<br />
the offender had been charged<br />
with assault and will appear in<br />
the district court tomorrow.<br />
RYMAN RESIDENT STUDY<br />
Residents and staff at Ryman<br />
Healthcare’s retirement villages<br />
have raised $330,000 to fund a<br />
heart research project. <strong>The</strong> money<br />
will fund the Heart Foundation<br />
Clinical Fellowship, a three-year<br />
study into cardiovascular disease,<br />
run by the Christchurch Heart<br />
Institute. <strong>The</strong> study will begin in<br />
Christchurch this year and look<br />
into cardiovascular disease in<br />
residents of Ryman Healthcare<br />
facilities.