Superstars support Hope4Kyleigh
Kyleigh's family has to raise R5-million by the end of the month.
The Superstars Academy has urged individuals and corporates to continue making donations towards the Hope4Kyleigh initiative to save the life of Benoni resident Kyleigh Kista (3), who urgently needs a heart operation that can only be performed in the US.
Kyleigh is in a race against time as the hospital payment needs to be processed by the end of the month so that the operation can be performed by March.
“Our academy is all about uplifting youngsters. We saw the Hope4Kyleigh initiative as a way to help another young girl fulfil her dreams by getting her to the US for the much-needed and urgent operation,” said the academy’s founder and director Shan Naidoo.
The academy donated a kit to Kyleigh. They will also be donating a soccer ball signed by Kyleigh and footballers Gabriela Salgado and Robyn Moodaly and their Banyana Banyana teammates to one of the donors.
“The most important writing on the ball is that of baby Kyleigh where she drew a heart on it. We are encouraging individuals and corporates to continue to assist with donations and from the academy, we want to give away the signed ball to one of the donors.
“All they need to do to stand a chance to win the ball is to reference ‘Kyleigh Superstars’ on the donation payment so we can place them into a draw and Kyleigh will handpick a name from the list at the end of January,” added Naidoo.
The academy has produced a video clip for the campaign and it’s available on social media on the following link: https://youtu.be/iYWrP9dVj_A
Speaking to the Benoni City Times, Kyleigh’s mum, Serina Kista, made a desperate plea to the public to help her get her daughter to the US for the operation.
“Please help us save Kyleigh. She has been through tremendous pain and agony. This operation finally gives her the normal life she deserves – just to be able to play with kids her age, go to school and be able to live like any child her age should.
“The doctors in South Africa have told us that there are no longer any options available to save Kyleigh’s life and everything they have done has not yielded the results they needed.”
Kyleigh has been fighting since she took her first breath. She not only had to deal with her heart condition but she has also conquered other illnesses that have threatened her life.
“In the first week of her life, she picked up the community respiratory virus (CRV), which is a superbug that has 50% mortality rate.
“At two weeks old, she picked the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a severe lung infection, which put her in ICU for two-and-a-half months. At almost three months old, she had her first open-heart surgery and at around 05:00 after the operation, the doctor called to tell us that her heart had stopped but managed to get her back and she went into kidney failure. She was put on dialyses.”
The first surgery failed a few months after the procedure and Kyleigh underwent another surgery at eight months old.
“Shortly after being sent home following this surgery, she picked up pneumonia and was in ICU for two weeks. A week after being discharged, she picked up the Bocavirus. She went into heart failure and at this point, we found out that her ribs were broken during the first surgery.
“Just when we thought things were going well, we found out that her second surgery had failed and she had to go in for a third open-heart surgery at 18 months old.”
Since 2019, Kyleigh has been going to the doctor every six months to monitor her progress. However, in October last year, she underwent cardiac catheterisation surgery and following this procedure, her case was reviewed and the doctors told the family that the third surgery had not yielded the results they wanted and could no longer help.
“Kyleigh is left with a heart and lung transplant to save her life. We sent her case to the Boston Children’s Hospital in the US and they will be able to repair her heart with an innovative procedure where they will build the blood vessel connection between her heart and lungs.”
The family, however, has to raise around R5-million before the end of this month to cover the costs of the procedure to help save Kyleigh’s life.
“Unfortunately, Kyleigh’s heart has deteriorated and she needs surgery urgently. It needs to be done by March and we are trying to raise R5-m for the surgery costs, which have to be processed by month-end.
”To keep Kyleigh’s hope alive, donate here: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/kyleigh-kista
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