Our Sierra Rose Appeal (November 2011)

Throughout November, we will then have a special YOGA CHALLENGE and offer you a chance to give something, even just a little, to someone who is travelling a more difficult journey than most of us can imagine.

Sierra Rose, the daughter of our teacher Karen and her husband Shane, has severe cerebral palsy and is in need of a complex but potentially life changing operation.

Please read Karen's story below and join in to help raise money through sponsors for your challenge.

For those students interested in helping Sierra Rose, we will have an information table set up in the reception area during October for you to find out how to raise money through friends sponsoring your November Yoga Challenge. Join in and not only improve your practice but help young Sierra.

Namaste,
Susan and Michael

A very Special and Urgent Request

As many of you may know, my daughter Sierra has Cerebral Palsy. Unfortunately she has a severe level of disability and while she is pretty and very intelligent, she cannot sit, walk or talk. My husband Shane and I have been lucky enough to have many amazing people raise funds over the last 4 1/2 years to help Sierra receive treatment and purchase equipment that she needs.

You can make a donation online, visit Sierra's Blog for details

The complex treatments and specialised equipment that she requires are all costly and we would not have been able to provide many of these things without the incredible generosity and fundraising support of the students and teachers of Bikram Yoga Fitzroy. Over the past years Bikram Yoga Fitzroy has raised over $35,000 to help improve the quality of Sierra Rose's life and for this we are so very grateful.

One of the most tragic effects of CP is that a fully functioning mind is trapped inside a spastic (extreme high muscle tone) body. The level of spasticity will vary and Sierra is at level 5 which is the most severe. There are limited ways to manage this high muscle tone and unfortuately using botox and physiotherapy are no longer enough.

Shane and I have thought very deeply about whether to put Sierra through a complex operation to help reduce the level of spasticity. Certainly there are risks, as with all operations, but the possible benefit is that it will significantly reduce Sierra's high muscle tone in her legs, feet and upper body. It will help her to breathe and swallow better and aid with the most basic functions and movements of the body that all of us take for granted every day. Most importantly, it will save her from the excruciating pain of sitting for the rest of her life on dislocated hips as the femur bones dislocate due to the constant pull of spasticity.

The cost of the operation is 8000 Euros and will require our family to travel to Prague later this year where one of the world's leading neurosurgeons, MUDr. Boris Zivny, is based. Our family has been consulting with him since Sierra was 8 months old. We have consulted with him every 6 months of her life for botox treatments and he is very aware of the progressive nature of her CP.

We will need to raise money for this operation as well as for expenses such as airfare and accommodation. This has been a most difficult decision for us and we appreciate any and all support.

Karen Jepp