Zahnee Campbell has brown eyes, her favourite vegetables are potatoes, and she has a sparkly selection of Disney dresses hanging proudly on her violently pink bedroom wall.
So far she sounds like your typical five-year-old girl. But she's a five-year-old girl who is being failed, because she is so different.
Five years ago Zahnee was born with a facial vascular haemangioma - a large birthmark that covered much of her head and face. It was so severe that it affected the development of her right eye, so while the birthmark faded with age, the damage lasted. Her reduced vision means she compensates - her head tilts on an angle, she suffers constantly from headaches, and she sits on her chair in a twisted position.
As far as anyone can tell, Zahnee's is the only case in the country. To date, she has been seen by nine specialists, but there is no-one in New Zealand with the expertise to help her. It seems Zahnee's case is so unique, it's effectively been placed in the 'too hard' basket. She's been offered surgery here, but it's largely cosmetic, and won't fix her worsening posture and pain.
So rather than sit and accept what the authorities here suggested, her mother Jade searched the world for a specialist. After two years, she found a doctor who would do it. The cost for the medical care New Zealand is unable to provide? $50,000.
There is a possibility of receiving a grant from the government to assist with operation costs, but it's by no means guaranteed. The Campbells would still have to pay for the travel and accommodation costs, rehabilitation, post-op care... Even that is a stretch. As yet, they've have heard nothing from the Ministry of Health, despite their requests. Nothing from Tony Ryall, despite the phone calls and emails.
But what do you do if the only way of helping your child is raising that much money? You do what you must. So the Campbells have set about raising that money on their own, every cent of it. Five years of battling and it's not even close to being over.
I asked Jade about getting Zahnee to New York, there was no
hiding her determination. She’ll get her there, with or without the Ministry’s
help. Zahnee's school and the local community are rallying behind them, but $50,000 is a lot of cupcakes and raffles and mufti days.
And all the while Zahnee carries on with her life, largely oblivious of the political manoeuvrings going on around her.
Zahnee's self portrait on the wall of the classroom is a big blue blob. But it's a smiling blob. Her teacher says she laughs her head off in class.
During class runs to and from an old tree on a nearby field, Zahnee will race on against the rambunctious little boys - always trying, always pushing, and never giving up.
As she ran towards the tree for the second time, one of Zahnee's shoes came off. She stopped, struggled to get it back on, and as she did so the little boy who had been running next to her also stopped, and put his arm around her.
Together they finished their run, collapsing next to their classmates in exhausted heaps.
What lovely little kids.
We meet a lot of ratbags, bullies and bad guys in this job. But those run-ins are largely forgettable, because the unsavoury characters they involve are completely forgettable.
It's the stories like Zahnee Campbell's that remain in the mind, because those are the stories that really matter.
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Contributions to Zahnee's treatment can be made to 12-3217-0140729-00
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