Fundraiser launched to help Nova 'make memories'

Photo: Nova Leonard (3).

Offaly's Nova Leonard is a happy, active and determined little girl who looks just like any other three-year-old. "You would look at her and think there's nothing wrong with her," said her mother, Melissa.

"It's more on the inside. She was born with several heart conditions, and over the years she's had repairs and had various different (procedures) done."

Nova, who turns four next month, lives with her parents Melissa and Colm, and her brother Calvin (11), in Tinnycross, about two and a half miles outside Tullamore.

Throughout her short life, she's shown remarkable strength and resilience in battling her health challenges, but unfortunately, she has now been diagnosed with a rare and incurable heart condition.

As a result, Melissa's cousin in Clara, Zoe Lynch, decided to organise a skydiving fundraiser and Go Fund Me page for Nova which has been launched this week.

The aim, as Zoe explained to the Offaly Independent, is to help support the family and ensure they get to "make memories" with their daughter without encountering financial burdens.

"The last thing anyone in that position wants to worry about is financial stresses," said Zoe.

"So we want to give them as much as we can to ease any financial stress and to let them freely make memories without that worry."

Over €1,600 was raised in the first two days after the Go Fund Me page was launched on Monday, and 30 people have already signed up to take part in the skydive for Nova from Clonbullogue airfield on September 17.

Melissa said her daughter has remained upbeat despite all of her hospital visits and procedures. "She's a very happy girl. She really does take it all in her stride, and just gets on with it. It's just that she wouldn't have the same energy other kids her age would have."

Nova underwent hybrid surgery, in which two procedures are carried out at once, about a year and a half ago.

"(The medical team) noticed then that the pressure from her lung arteries to her heart was not sufficient, so she was in a right-sided heart failure from that. That's going to be the main issue with her health, pulmonary hypertension.

"They had hoped that the medication she's on would have helped her but it hasn't helped her, it just keeps her stable.

"Your lung arteries would normally grow until the age of seven, but hers have never grown since she's been born, they've only gotten bigger from operations to help make them bigger.

"They can't do that any longer - she's been stretched so much that they just can't do those operations any more."

Sadly, she is not a suitable candidate for a heart or lung transplant. "There's nothing that can help her further, with medication or treatment-wise," said Melissa.

"She suffers an awful lot of pain in her feet and her hands, so I think palliative care are going to get involved with pain management, because at the moment it's hard to work out pain medication given all of the other medication she's on."

Since the heartbreaking diagnosis, Melissa said she and the family have received great support locally. She was taken aback initially when her cousin Zoe came up with the idea of organising the skydive and the Go Fund Me fundraiser.

"It brings a lot of it to reality. Myself and my husband were kind of in denial until it was all being talked about.

"But people have been amazing. The amount of support we've been given has been crazy. They have been very good," she said.

The fundraising efforts are set to continue during the weeks ahead, with a number of local shops agreeing to take in collection buckets to help show their support.

You can find the Go Fund Me page by Googling: 'Skydive for Nova Gofundme'