Wheelchairs, money arrive in flood of help for Peta

Perth Alenepi-Siolo holds her 3-year-old daughter Elizabeth. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Donations to help Elizabeth Alenepi-Siolo have flooded in, with people offering money for prosthetic legs and a wheelchair.

Elizabeth - affectionately called Peta - had her legs and most of her fingers amputated after she contracted meningitis last year.

Despite being born in Auckland, she is not entitled to free healthcare as her parents, who are still in the process of applying for residency, are not New Zealand citizens.

The family are facing a bill of up to $200,000 for Peta's operations, therapy and other medical expenses.

After Peta's story featured in the Herald this week, hundreds of people from around the country and as far away as India, the United States, Britain and Australia offered to help.

Seventeen wheelchairs were offered and 21 people said they would buy Peta a wheelchair, after it was revealed the family could not afford one and she was not entitled to a free one.

Others donated money for prosthetic pants - pads of skin-like material - to cover her stumps, as well as for prosthetic legs, which can cost between $15,000 and $19,000.

A care package, with oils and ointments for Peta's carpet-burned stumps, also arrived this week from Pam Cleverley - the mother of 7-year-old Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman, who became a household name when meningitis ravaged her body as a baby.

Peta's mother, Perth Alenepi-Siolo, thanked those who had offered to help her daughter.

"I'm just thankful to people who have helped Peta, people who have called just to ask how they could help us," she said.

"I'm just so shocked at all their generosity."

A wheelchair donated by Invacare NZ, which specialises in mobility products and healthcare equipment, will arrive for Peta today.

The family are setting up a trust for their little girl.

But anyone wishing to help Peta now can do so by donating to: Elizabeth Alenepi-Siolo, BNZ account number 02-0191-0319195-83.