The campaign to send a disabled Coupar Angus girl to America for “vital” surgery is starting to gather pace.
Thanks to the support of the wider Perthshire community, more than £4000 was raised for brave Wiktoria Mucha in just over a week.
The nine-year-old’s parents issued a heartfelt public appeal for help at the start of the month, revealing they only had seven weeks to meet their £40,000 target.
Recent efforts have brought the fund-raising total to just over £16,000 and although there is still a long way to go, Wiktoria’s father Tomasz says he is feeling “newly confident”.
Primary-five pupil Wiktoria was born with cerebral palsy and has to use a specialised walking frame to get around. However, as she grows, more pressure is being put on her limbs, hip joints and lower spine and she has been told she could be confined to a wheelchair by the time she is due to go to secondary school.
After reading about fellow Perthshire youngster Jack McNaughton’s successful trip to St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, Wiktoria’s family decided to enquire to see if she was suitable for selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR). They were soon told the nine-year-old would benefit from the procedure, which will eliminate much of the spastic diplegia in her body but that the window of opportunity was quickly closing, due to her age.
Mr Mucha (38) said, “The operation works best on children under five and we were told that, the longer Wiktoria had to wait, the less likely it would be that they could do anything. There was no question we wanted to give her the chance.Struggle”She is desperate to be able to walk beside her friends and do all the other normal things girls her age like to do. We knew it would be a struggle to raise the cash in time but have been doing all we can.
“Because the Wiktoria Fund is not a registered charity it is much harder to get support from larger organisations, so we rely on people. The Coupar Angus and Blairgowrie communities have been amazing from the start and we’ve also started receiving donations and offers of support from people across Tayside we can’t thank people enough and urge them to keep going.”
Mr Mucha revealed he and wife Aneta (34) are also waiting to hear from Dr Kristian Aquilina in Bristol, the first surgeon in the UK to offer the procedure at a cost of £24,000. At a meeting with doctors at Perth Royal Infirmary, Mr Mucha asked that his daughter be referred to Dr Aquilina to save the lengthy journey to America.
“We have yet to hear if the referral has been made so it is looking more and more unlikely,” he said. “It would be great if Wiktoria could have the operation in Bristol as it costs almost half and won’t involve a long flight but we can’t wait around just in case.”
Events in the region are continuing to push the total upwards. The weekly Sunday lunch events at St Stephen’s RC Church in Blairgowrie have raised £220 so far and Perthshire Brass donated £270, collected after their latest concert.
Bingo tea events in aid of the Wiktoria Fund will take place next Saturday at Coupar Angus Town Hall and Monday, September 26, at the British Legion Hall, George Street, Blairgowrie.
On September 4, there will also be an open day at Coupar Angus Fire Station.For more information, and to donate, visit wiktoriafund.org