Suné Lombard Fund

Born Brave

Suné Lombard was born a little prematurely (33 weeks) on 9 January 2010. She was admitted to the Neonatal ICU. After 24 hours in the ICU her lungs gave in and she had to be resuscitated. She was placed on an oscillator (ventilator). The paediatricians tried numerous times to wean her off the oscillator, but were only successful after 2 and a half months.

During this time she had to be resuscitated another 3 times after her lungs and heart gave in. She also lost her ability to swallow, and had to undergo an operation to put a tube directly in her stomach through which she is fed. She pulled through and were placed on a CPAP machine to assist with her breathing for one month. After this she was able to breath on her own with the assistance of 24 hour oxygen. She was admitted to hospital a further 6 times during 2010 for lung related issues and respiratory need.

Strong Will

Suné was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP) in 2011. This was due to the lack of oxygen to the brain during the first 3 months of her life. We were informed that kids with similar brain injuries can only lie down and not do much for themselves. But this was not the case with our little fighter. She just kept amazing everyone that she came into contact with. We spent a lot of time in therapy with her and this helped her to develop into the beautiful little girl she is today. She started crawling, this was followed by her trying to stand up against everything and climbing onto anything she could find. Now she can even climb into the bath on her own without any assistance from us. She started to communicate with us by taking our hands and pointing us into the direction she wants to go etc. Due to her strong will to push herself to walk, we took her to a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, who specializes in CP kids. She operated on her legs and feet to maximize her chance of walking. We are working hard to get her to a point where she can walk, but all of this takes time.

Giving the Best

Currently Suné is still in need of oxygen at night when she sleeps, she has epilepsy, she still gets tube feeding through her stomach, and she has physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy once a week. She sees her lung specialist and neuro specialist every 6 months etc. She is also on her own medical aid.

As parents we obviously want to give our little girl the best we can. We can support her normal “child” needs, but for all these additional costs we need financial assistance from other resources like friends and family. This is why we host our annual golf day.

The golf day will be held again this year on the 25^th of May. We really do appreciate any support we can get, no matter how big or small. Thank you for taking the time to read about our little girl.

If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at kobus.ldp@gmail.com or vernelombard@gmail.com, or call me or my wife on 082 873 0413 or 082 706 2059.