A little baby, whose parents named her after the princess in Star Wars because they were such fans of the films, has had quite a struggle in her first four months on this earth, but fans of the Lucas empire are coming to her aid in a big way.
A month after she was born, after a vaccination, she began to have seizures and involuntary body and eye movements. This got worse and she was admitted into the hospital, but doctors are baffled as to what could be the cause of this medical problem. They’ve given her spinal taps, drug regiments, biopsies, just about everything they can think of, and still they are up in the air about how to help her. Too bad Dr. House isn’t a real guy.
But as you can imagine, for a young couple, the flood of medical bills from all these procedures is much, much higher than they can handle on their own. And they are being buried by the avalanche that has resulted, to the point where it they may be forced into an impossible decision on whether they can afford to continue treatment. Because of the lack of a single-payer healthcare system in the US, many people are financially destroyed by the high costs involved, not to mention the refusal of services of it gets too high.
But fortunately, a Facebook page and blog have actually come to their rescue. It gave them a chance to publicize their need for help and since the parents are such Star Wars fans, that the community that share a common love of all things Lucas has been more than willing to lend a hand. Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the films and suffers from his own medical issues, has donated signed books that can be sold to raise cash, while Stephen Stanton, who plays Gran Moff Tarken in Clone Wars, donated a good sum of cash. All in all, between celebrity donations and the public at large, they have so far been able to raise $15,000, but they still need much more to cover all that they need to.
You know, it really touches my heart to see people rally together under a common love for a cause like this. It almost makes the force seem as real as Yoda described, a power that binds us all together. We certainly pray for Baby Leah and we hope that she can recover from this illness that has brought her so much horror in her very young life.
If you would like to read more about the brave one’s plight and/or donate money or gifts, you can visit their blog at princessleahdiaries.blogspot.com for more information about her story and updates on her condition.
