Surgery in US only hope for brave Bay girl
A BRAVE survivor of several complicated medical procedures and an extremely rare medical condition, Ashleigh Botha faces an uphill battle to live. The 21-year-old, from Seaview on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, and her family and friends are trying to raise R1.8-million for surgery to save her life.
They received some good news yesterday when South African Airways and lowcost airline Mango offered to cover costs for Ashleigh and her mother, Colleen, to fly to Johannesburg and Cleveland, in Ohio in the US – the only place in the world where she can be helped.
Ashleigh was diagnosed at 15 with intimal fibromuscular dysplasia, after suffering for four years with debilitating and painful symptoms.
It is an extremely rare disease – she is the only person known to have it in South Africa – which causes abnormal cellular growth in the big and medium arteries.
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