Zantaya's Medical Fund

My brother, Keith and his wife Anne, and their daughter Kailani welcomed beautiful Zantaya into the world September 1st, 2015, born in Vernon BC. They currently reside in Armstrong,BC Canada. They have spent the past few months taking Zantaya from doctor to doctor to try to find out the extent of her medical condition, which so far, we know she only has one kidney. While Keith & Anne have medical insurance, unfortunately, medical & travel expenses are adding up and all the time off they have to take away from home, their bills are adding up as well. Some of the procedures she has had to endure have not been covered by insurance, even though they were recommended by doctors. Thank you for helping, I cannot think of a more deserving family. God Bless.

From Family:

Zantaya was on a feeding tube for just about 3 months. This was because she could not eat well enough from the breast, and need supplementation. She could not eat formula as she puked it all up, so Anne would pump, and we fed her via an NG tube. Going against the norm like I do, I persisted and found a doctor in Vancouver to investigate a tongue tie that I had suspected. About 6 weeks after the laser revision, Z puked the tube out because she pukes a lot due to being sick, and we were fed up, and did not put the tube back in. We manually fed her with a bottle for a few weeks, and gradually she got stronger and the last couple weeks she has been strictly breast feeding with no extra supplementation, and she has been gaining weight now. She is still not quite double her birth weight.

Z was born with one kidney. Z has Stage 5 Vesicoureteral reflux where her urine flows from her bladder to her kidney. Z has frequent UTI infections due to other anomalies happening. The current critical issue is when Z gets a UTI, not only does her bladder get infected with bacteria, her kidney gets infected. The kidney gets infected it causes scarring of the kidney, and Z loses kidney function. Z is now seeing a pediatric nephrologist to monitor her. We will start to see a pediatric urologist, and many other urology tests, and very likely corrective surgery on her ureter valve will be required according to the nephrologist.

Z also has persistent elevated thyroid hormone to indicate hypothyroidism, so she will be seeing a pediatric Endocrinologist, in Vancouver to determine the causes of the elevated thyroid.

Z had an X-ray done in end of March 2016 on her spine to scan for possible spina bifida occulta or some other anomaly of the spine. The X-ray has revealed a mass on her spine. Z has an appointment with a neurosurgeon.

Z also is waiting for a Cardiogram to test her heart functions.

As of April 20,2016 We are on the “urgent list.” For the urologist, neurology, and endocrinology departments.

The MRI is the next appointment to happen in Vancouver, which will give us a better overview of her spine for the neurosurgeon, any hormone/brain related issues for the endocrinologist and neurosurgeon, and bladder kidney anomalies for the urologist and nephrologist. As of April 20, 2016, we are hoping the MRI happens in the next few weeks.

Right now we have spent a few thousand out of pocket in the last 3 months on medical for Zantaya. Blue Cross was only covering 75% of the bag costs at the time, where a bag was changed daily, and zero feeding tube supplies were covered. This is because she was not a chronic case. So after 6 months it does get paid for by the government. The feeding tube supplies were not cheap, along with the breast pump. We did spend hundreds on finding a bottle that she could feed from to try and eliminate the NG tube. Z is now off of the feeding tube!!

We went doctor to doctor, and we travelled to Vancouver without a Doctor’s referral for a laser revision on suspected tongue tie, only a small portion of the frenectomy was covered by Blue Cross. The surgery was a success! That trip to Vancouver was not covered at all. We are looking at many trips to the Coast in the next few months, and are expecting this to be a common theme. Even with lodging covered, we are expecting about $300-$500 on a 2-3 day trip which would cover travel and food. Armstrong to Vancouver is approx 1000 km round trip.

Unfortunately with the many specialists involved, the specialists do not coordinate the appointments. Right now the money is for the short term critical goals of back and forth trips to Children’s hospital that we expect for the summer of 2016 and beyond. Also we do see a Chiropractor weekly in which we have no more benefits for and had to cut back our appointment visits. We also want to see a pediatric Naturopath to ensure Zantaya’s health is getting the best care possible. Naturopath’s are only covered on the initial visits. Thank you for your donation. Anything helps. As of April 25-2016 Keith has used up all his sick and vacation time for Zantaya.