I am raising money to help a little girl who has been a part of our family for almost five years now! My daughter first met Ashley at a school in Nakuru, Kenya, in 2014 and immediately fell in love with her bubbly, happy, loving personality. Start Small organization then agreed to sponsor Ashley so she could attend a private school in Nakuru. In the past year, two of my sons have taken over Ashley's sponsorship and she has become even closer to our family! 

When my daughter first met Ashley in 2014, it was clear that she had some physical and mental disabilities that needed attention. We learned that Ashley got very sick when she was just 9 months old. She was first diagnosed with pneumonia, then meningitis and was unfortunately mistreated at the hospital. The shots and medicine she was given at such a young age, caused her to go into a coma, which she was in for two months before she finally woke up. The doctors and nurses were shocked she woke up and even more so, that she is still with us today. 

Though it is clear that the damage caused to her brain, spine and muscles from her time in the hospital is irreversible, she has recovered from her traumatic past remarkably with some physical therapy and school tutoring. She has continued to struggle to do things like run and play normally and has been falling a lot lately. Start Small took her to a specialist who has diagnosed her with cerebral palsy, high functioning.  She is also believed to be having absence seizures which cause her to space out, often forgetting what she is doing briefly and falling down. 

I hope to help her get an EEG to have a better understanding of her brain activity and if it can be treated with medicine. She also is in need of monthly physical therapy so that she can continue to grow and train her arms and legs how to work properly as her brain has a hard time communicating to the rest of her body. 

Ashley lives with her single mother and younger sister, Blessings. They live in the urban slum of Rhonda, where their mother has been struggling financially, especially since she lost her job in April, due to COVID-19. Ashley's mother is an incredibly hard working, loving, nurturing and caring person. She has put everything she has into taking care of Ashley and Blessings and I want to try to relieve just one small burden she is carrying. 

I would like to raise $500 that will allow Ashley to receive proper medical treatment over the next few years, so that she can grow at a healthy rate and allow her to live her best possible life. With adequate care, Ashley can live like everyone else, get stronger and learn to train her body to work as efficiently as possible. 

If you would like to be a part of Ashley's story, please join me in supporting her and her family in this time of need, through donation, sharing this story or sending good thoughts :) Thank you!