MEET BELLA, A STARSHIP SUPER-STAR!

Meet Bella. We reckon she’s an absolute super-star. Back in 2018 she came down with the flu after a recent choir competition. Following this, she had aches and pains and was in and out of hospital for a couple of weeks, before she was admitted to Starship.

At just 12 years old she was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). CRPS can manifest when there’s no obvious cause, despite extensive investigation. Like Bella’s experience, it can also follow an acute (short-term) pain experience like illness, surgery, or injury.

Strategies for treating the painful symptoms of CRPS can be as varied as the condition itself and can involve a very painful process. At first Bella couldn’t understand why she had to do things that pushed her through the excruciating pain by moving and doing certain exercises. But over the first year with an incredible attitude and the help of her clinical team, she started to learn all about how it benefitted her.

Bella is now 16, and while she’ll continue to be supported by Starship she’s back to doing all the things she loves including singing in choirs and performing in kapa haka groups.

Without the expertise of the team at Starship and the support of people like you, Bella would be struggling to fight her chronic pain every day.

While not all of us can sing or perform as well as Bella, we can become a star-supporter with just the click of a button! For as little as $4 a month, you can join our Starship super-family and help make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of Aotearoa’s super-stars!

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