Tetuanui Teahiu and staff of Wesley Hospital Brisbane

6-year-old Tetuanui Teahiu and staff of Wesley Hospital in Brisbane

It is not every day you read in the paper, watch on TV or come across an Executive who would take time off his schedule, spend over a month day in and day out pedaling across 4,000 kilometers from Perth to Sydney

with the intention of raising funds to help a 6-year-old girl recover, if not progress, from an episode which stalled her development at the age of 18 months from being a normal little girl.

Simon Fletcher of Interchange Ltd started his journey at Fremantle, Western Australia, at the end of May and finishing this grueling ride at the end of June in Bondi, New South Wales.

From the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Geographically, the distance is almost the same as that between Port Vila and Sydney- but on a bike, under the Aussie sun and the never ending road ahead, sleeping road side by camp or stopping at accommodation where available and experiencing a few broken tyres and malfunctions along the way. His only interaction would be emus or another freak bike rider who was crazy enough to be doing the same thing or truckers who would tell him how many people have died trying to do what he is doing.

Accomplishing a task not so simple as this would require months of daily training to build up endurance capacity– Simon did a few bike rides from town to Eton throughout the year. His four kids and wife visited him in Hay, NSW, where he still had over 700kms to go.

As much as this is a great personal achievement, Simon’s objective was to create funds for an employee’s daughter, Tetuanui Teahiu, who was born a normal and healthy beautiful baby girl but at the age of 18 months old experienced a digestive shock which resulted in a halt in her development as she constantly regurgitated unable to keep food down and unable to utilize her motor skills was incapable to progress as a normal child who could not walk or talk for 4 years. Despite the difficulties she faced, her loving parents’ determination through faith and prayer that one day she would fully recover.

A Go Fund Me campaign was created to raise funds in order to provide Tetuanui the opportunity to get a proper diagnosis overseas on her condition so at the very least find ways to better improve her quality of life. The campaign raised AUD 6,450.

Simon’s wife, Cidell Fletcher, alongside her very good friend Katherina Koloreff, visited Tetuanui and her mother at their residence in Salili in Port Vila during their holiday with Chanelle Bjornum, an employee of Simon Fletcher, to gain of her perspective of her situation which Katerina’s fiancé (who is in the medical field) would assess and advise how they would put forward Tetuanui’s case. Together they collaborated to act as the liaison point between the overseas medical team and Tetuanui’s parents.

A letter from the 6 year old’s doctor outlined her past history which was referred to the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. A Skype appointment was made with Dr. Kate Sinclair, a child and adolescent neurologist. Through this teleconference they were able to discuss their objectives which was to gain a diagnose, allow for Doctor Kate to visually see the patient and her interactions and to discuss where to go from that point.

Through observation Dr. Kate advised of several appointments and tests that would be required and the duration of 10 days to fit everything in. The total for the medical bills including accommodation came to $AUS 9,182.40 and whilst funds raised was $AUS 6,450.00, Simon Fletcher, again, without the blink of an eye, covered the outstanding in order to meet the costs and in hopes that the life of a little girl would change for the better.

Their visas were approved in one day and on October 4, 2016 Tetuanui and her mother Beverly bravely left for Brisbane for their first time to Australia who also had their airline tickets generously had their tickets paid by an anonymous employee of Felix.

Their first day at Wesley Hospital in Brisbane required Tetuanui to have an MRI under general anesthetic followed by an Electroencephalogram (used to detect abnormalities related to electrical activity of the brain), an Ophthalmology review (dealing with the anatomy, functions, and diseases of the eye) as well as appointments with Pediatric Neurologist.

On arrival in Brisbane, they were warmly welcome by the medical team Vivien Jones, Dr. Kate Sinclair and Jackie Coleman who liaised with Chanelle in Vanuatu who jointly organized for this trip to come into fruition which answered the prayer from the girl’s mother Beverly to get them over to Australia, who also never ever met Simon up until after his bike ride.

Dr. Kate took the girl and her mother to her therapy farm where she could ride a horse and spend a day out of the medical facilities where they were greeted by other retired nurses wanting to meet them and hear of their story Chanelle expressed to the Daily Post.

Whilst the treatments were going well and it was obvious that her condition would not cause her to deteriorate, blood tests will still be another 2 months until revealed, however, it was clear her current way of living needed improvement to not only better help her but also those who cared for her.

The Wesley Hospital’s International Patients Program kindly donated a $AUS 10,000.00 (equivalent of 1 million vatu) wheelchair which will tremendously assist with her daily life as well as preventing potentially the development of a concaved chest or scoliosis, according to the Specialists, as she is carried everywhere.

Beverly and Tetuanui are back in Vanuatu and have witnessed a tremendous change in their life due to a kind gift of a medical stroller given by Dr. Kate Sinclair. They are due to go back to Australia for her last fitting of the wheelchair in December (next month) and potentially have to make regular trips to Australia every six months for medical check-ups to assist with her development with the hope to eventual recovery, according to her mother Beverly who says she is trusting God for her daughters eventual full recovery to live a normal life again.

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