Donate £5 - Reef's Treatment 
Reef’s Trust fund in RSA:Latest Update on Reef
Update from Granny Charmeon
Reef and Payten are just sooooo cute. As with most brothers and sisters, they fight and I guess with them, more so as they are their only kiddie company. Reef got really angry with his sister the other day and I guess as he cant speak and express just how he feels, his only recourse is to scream in her face. Her answer to him was "Weefie, dont be scary" so damn cute. Miss them sooooo much.Introducing Reef Donald James Carneson...
Reef is four years old, and a cancer survivor. At the age of just five months, he was diagnosed with high risk infant ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia). Aggressive chemotherapy during his first year did not result in remission being obtained and at the age of only eleven months he received a bone marrow transplant.
Over the next two years his condition fluctuated wildly, with countless stays in ICU, and his family was warned on many occasions to prepare themselves for the worst. However Reef has proved to be a real fighter, and has beaten the odds every time. He is now cancer-free, but his little body has not been left unharmed. He suffers from severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which has affected almost all the organs in his body, and his physical development is way behind. At the age of three, he was unable to walk, could not speak, and was fed through a naso-gastric tube.
During 2011 his parents realised that he would not be able to get the intense rehabilitation treatment that he needed in South Africa. Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles agreed to accept Reef as a patient, and in October 2011 the family moved to the USA.
The improvement in his condition since he began treatment in the USA is nothing short of miraculous. He can now run around, eat some normal food (although his nutrition is still a problem), and has a vocabulary of fifteen words. A team of specialists controls and monitors his treatments, and he is flourishing while receiving the necessary therapies.
All of this has proved extremely costly, and his parents are unable to work in the USA due to their visa conditions. The family has been totally reliant on funds raised on their behalf (in most cases by total strangers), not only for Reef’s medical treatment, but also for their day-to-day living expenses.
After one year, their medical visa expired, and for this to be renewed would have involved Reef returning to South Africa to be reassessed. This was not a viable option, as not only is the cost prohibitive, but more importantly, the flights would be extremely dangerous for Reef as he has a severely compromised immune system. The only other option was for one of Reef’s parents to study a degree course, so his father Ryan embarked on an 18-month Cooking and Baking course at a college in LA. This was paid for initially by his family in South Africa, and then a generous benefactor in the USA – however, there are still nine months to go and funding has run out. Ryan is proving to be an exceptional student, but sadly bursaries are not available for foreigners. The family is not ready to give up, and many avenues are still being explored for sponsorship.
Please browse through this site and experience with his parents some of the heartache they have endured. If you are able to help financially, even with a small amount, the family and one very special little boy will be eternally grateful.
Be warned: little Reef will creep into your heart!