With a little help: family seeks to get Kingston woman back on her feet

Jeff Green | Apr 15, 2015

Danielle Aldridge is a lucky woman. She is 34 years old, a Kingston native, has two healthy boys and a loving husband, a supportive family and good employment prospects.

The only problem is that she can't enjoy any of it, or very little of it at the most.

The reason is that she spends 22 hours a day in bed, in pain, because of severe spinal disability. When she was 14 she had successful surgery to deal with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. The surgery involved inserting pins to keep her spine straight.

Until two years ago, Danielle was able to function normally. Her sister Victoria, who lives in Mountain Grove and is on maternity leave from a job with Central Frontenac Township, said that she used to call her sister Quasimodo because she held her neck at an off-centre angle, sometimes as the result of her condition.

Two years ago, what had been a manageable condition took a serious turn for the worse.

“She told me that she felt something change, but could not pin-point what had happened,” Victoria said of her sister's condition at the time.

What followed was an MRI, and then another, and consultations with doctors across Canada and the United States, all while her condition, and her quality of life, was deteriorating.

“The bottom line,” said Victoria, “is that no doctor in Canada will take her on and no surgery is offered for her under OHIP. She has done tons and tons of research, and there are options in the United States for her, but they are not ideal, and the cost is about $300,000.”

Then Danielle found out about the Clinique du Parc in Montpelier, France, which is run by Dr. Thierry Marnay, a pioneering surgeon who has developed a technique for implanting prosthetic discs.

When she contacted Dr. Marnay, Danielle offered to send him all of the scans that had been done of her spine, and all of the mountains of data that had been collected about her condition, but he insisted that she come to see him. So, in late October, she travelled to Montpellier with her husband.

“He said that he had to see her, he had to examine her himself and he had to talk to her. She went and after undergoing x-rays and an MRI, all in one day, Dr. Marnay sat with her and said he could do an operation that would get her back on her feet,” said Victoria.

The operation, which is set for May 28, will cost $90,000. There are other costs on top, for flights and for Danielle to remain at the hospital for a month and in Montpelier for at least another month, but the family has started a fundraising campaign to raise the $90,000.

With a publicity campaign this week through the Kingston media, over $17,000 has been raised thus far, and the campaign has a digital home in the website Withalittlehelp.ca.

On the site, which has a donation button for those who are inclined, Danielle explains what her life has become.

“It's hard to explain to people how my pain feels and how things become impossible to achieve. My goal is to not only look like life is amazing in pictures but to once again live a life that is amazing. To me amazing was experiencing the little moments like bath time, story time, the goal my son Ryan scored in a hockey game or the dance my son Michael did to his new favourite song. Now, many times I just hear about them from my husband Jake as I lay in my bed. I smile because I am so happy, but I am also so sad. I can't wait until I can get up and live my life again.”

Jake Aldridge said that the family will find the money to fund the operation one way or another, even if it means selling their house and also going into debt, a point of view that is shared by Danielle's sister Victoria.

“If we can't find the money by fundraising, we will do whatever we need to do, even if it means paying over a long time, but a friend of mine said that sometimes if you ask for help people are happy to help, and when I see that we have raised thousands of dollars this week I see that is true.'

For further information go to Withalittlehelp.ca or contact Victoria Hawley at 613-483-8678