Community Comes Together for Local Teenager

Tuesday, 11 October 2016 at 06:27

A major fundraising effort is on to help a teenager afford a very costly surgery.

PRINCETON - A teenager from Princeton is facing an uphill battle as she tries to get surgery done in the United States.

Caroline Smith suffers from Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a rare condition that breaks down the connected tissue inside the body. The surgery she needs will cost $120,000 and can only be done in the United States. She lives with her father Bruce Smith who is a single parent and they have already maxed out lines of credit and credit cards paying for one surgery. Smith tells Heart FM they started fundraising with a GoFundMe Page that was actually set up by her doctor, Tony D'Souza.

"Well for us it has taken us a long time to actually find a doctor who actually acknowledged and cared - he's gone out of his way to find help for Caroline. He knew how much the finances were going to be and the help isn't really here in Canada and that is why he came about and he said 'I don't normally do this but I will do this to help you.'"

Smith says it has been extremely difficult for his daughter who has to face bullying from her peers and finding a doctor who believed her was difficult as well.

"When we used to go to ER, Doctors would kind of tell her she's crazy, she's making it up ,and in reality she's really not. She has been bullied in school, a long time ago and that has changed since she got to high school, but before even teachers didn't believe her."

Caroline was supposed to have the surgery in October, however she has just been informed that she will have to wait until she turns 18 in April.

Several BBQ's have been happening in Princeton as well and they will need to keep the fundraising going to reach their $120,000 goal. Szabo Brothers Car Care is still accepting bottles as well and as of this morning cases were still piling in.

Bruce Smith works at the JLM scrap Metal in Waterford at 1071 Concession 11. You can donate there as well by dropping off any scrap metal, and over the weekend someone donated an old van to the cause.

You can find more information online and you can donate at the GoFundMe page here. https://www.gofundme.com/caroline-smith