Hello my name is Izzy and my daughter Tui is five years old and she received her ilestomy bag on March 28th. When I asked our wound nurse about organizations that cater to younger kids she said unfortunately there is not one-they seem (from what I’ve learned) cater to the older kid crowd and while I would love my daughter to meet someone older to show her that she can living a normal life even with a bag I think it would do wonders for her mental wellbeing to be surrounded by kids of similar age who are navigating life at the same stage she is and to see that being different doesn’t mean she’s alone. Unfortunately she has had to face the cruelty of kids when they found out and I ended up pulling her out of class from the constant bullying. Because of this she thinks being different means she’s defective or less then and doesn’t deserve friends. But what really broke me was when she looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks and pleaded “Please can I go back to being Tui- I miss the old Tui she was better.” This gave me the determination to start an organization centered to kids of similar ages. I am contacting you because honestly I am out of my element and have not clue where to even begin. I was hoping you would be able to give me tips, points, where/how to start, any help really would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read my long message and I hope to hear back from you!
Smile big,
Izzy and my brave daughter Tui