Here is the latest update on Dhani, the little lad you helped support back in November/Dec 2009.
Shortly after his return to Bali on Christmas day Dhani celebrated his 8th Birthday with his family and friends.
Last weekend (7th Feb) with my two sons aged 4 & 12, we visited Dhani and his family. The family has moved into a smaller house, which is more like an old run down shop, but the rent is cheap and it will be a stepping stone until they have saved enough money to buy some land and build a new home..The shop/house next to a busy road near Air Sanih where the accident happened. The new village is called Kajekangin which is a few minutes east of Kubutambahan.
Dad is back at work selling his wares and Mum is looking after the kids so they are slowly getting their lives back, although it will be a few years before they reach the standard they had before the crash.
Dhani is moving schools soon. The school he is at is poorly managed and the teachers sometimes do not show up for days so his father has plans to move him to another school a few villages away. Once he is settled I will go to the school and see what support we could propose to the school in Mandurah (Fredrick Irwin School on Gordon road) that invited Dhani to join class 5K for an afternoon just before he left to come home to Bali. Due to strict laws in Australia we were not allowed to post any photographs of the school or the class online, which was a shame because Dhani had a great time showing the kids how to make paper planes and opening Christmas presents.
Dhani’s scars after the operation are very apparent however it looks like the operation was a success and he can now close his eyes and mouth properly. Thanks to Fiona and the team at PMH he can now smile properlyJ
Don’t forget it is not over yet and he will have to return to Perth at some stage for further treatments so keep in touch with Frank Wheel at the Rotary club in Mandurah who is collecting donations for him.
Attached are a few images to give you an idea of what Dhani looks like now and where they are living. A couple of the images may disturb some people, so if you are in the slightest bit concerned please do not open the images named Dhani Feb 2010 (3) or Dhani Feb 2010 (4).
Thanks again to everyone who made the operation possible, either through your donations or your kind support. You helped me to make a big difference to this young boys life!
December & November 2009 Dhani & Achmad Down Under
From The West Australian
Thursday 10th December 2009 - Dhani the face of charity team effort
Six weeks ago, young burns victim Dhani struggled to eat, talk and even smile after being sprayed with petrol in a motorcycle crash.
Yesterday, the cheeky seven-year-old couldn't stop grinning as he enjoyed one last afternoon in Perth, just two weeks after burns specialist Fiona Wood performed surgery to relax his face by releasing his lower lip to help him eat and his eyes to let them close.
Dhani, who lives in Bali, was brought to WA for treatment using funds raised by the Rotary Club Bali Seminyak and the Mandurah City Rotary Club on learning of his plight.
Club member Mark Savage said the difference in Dhani after the surgery was remarkable.
"He can now close his mouth when he eats and it allows him to close his eyes when he sleeps for the first time in two years," Mr Savage said.
"It's been a nice experience for Dhani. Even though there's a bit of pain involved, he understands why and he can actually feel the difference.
"He said to me when he was having breakfast the other day, 'Look how big my smile is', and gave me this big cheesy grin."
Dhani visited Princess Margaret Hospital last month where Professor Wood, of the McComb Foundation, examined his injuries and decided to operate free.
The Rotary Clubs raised the other $12,000 needed to pay for bandages and other medical costs.
Despite a few infection scares while recovering from the four-hour surgery, Dhani was this week cleared by doctors to return home to Bali.
Mr Savage credited Dhani's fast recovery to his positive attitude and praised the work of the medical teams from the McComb Foundation and PMH.
He said Dhani might be back in Perth for more treatment.
Tuesday 8th December 2009
Dhani is spending the day with his new Indonesian friends here in Perth and tomorrow evening will be flying home to Bali
Monday 7th December 2009
Dhani visited Class 5K at The Fredrick Irwin School in Mandurah today. There he was entertained by the children and took part in an origami lesson to make paper planes. He delighted everyone by making his own Bali jet fighter which flew exceptionally well. He then proceeded to teach the children how to make his version and within minutes we were ducking the masses of flying paper planes.
The children also handed around Xmas gifts and presented Dhani with a donation of AUD262 which they had collected all by themselves. Well done 5K!
After the meeting we visited Gerry Gielingh & Frank Wheel of the Rotary Club of Mandurah City and were treated to a dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.
Tuesday 1st December 2009
Mark called PMH this morning to check on Dhani's progress. The staff said he has already finished his check up. They assured him all was well and that the infection was minor and does not require special treatment. Hopefully he wil be able to return home to Bali next week.
Mark will be flying into Perth again on Friday in anticipation of bringing Dhani back to Bali early next week. Dhani has school exams on the 20th December and his 8th birthday on the 25th December, Christmas Day and is looking forward to going home as he is missing his Mother.
Monday 30th November 2009
News today from Andy Cahyono Dhani & Dads Indonesian host in Perth:
Dhani is due to go back to PMH as he has a slight infection in his lower lip due to spilled food when eating. He also gets very itchy skin so medication was supplied to relieve this, however during his sleep he has been scratching and had bleeding below his ear where the graft is. Hopefully nothing serious.
Thursday 26th November 2009
Fiona Wood carefully removed Dhani's bandages this morning to inspect how well he was healing. Apparently he is doing better than expected and Fiona was so impressed with the progress that after reapplying fresh dressings she allowed him to be released from hospital after only one week.
Dhani has now been moved to an address in Bentley, South Perth where he will
stay with a member of Perth's Indonesian community until he has made a full recovery.
He has two check ups to complete, the first of these is on Monday 30th November, before the hospital will give him the thumbs up to fly back to Bali.
If he continues to heal quickly then we expect he will be well enough to return to Bali around the 7th of December.
The West Australian- 23rd November 2009
The West Australian- 20th November 2009
Perth- 19th November 2009
Dhani was at PMH today for tests and prep. The Operation has been postponed until tomorrow (Friday). He will go to PMH at 10:30 tomorrow morning and have his Operation at 1:15. The procedure will take about 4 hours.
You can read about Dhani in tomorrow's West Australian he will also appear on the Today Tonight Show on Channel 7 at 6pm tomorrow. I noticed a 20 second promo on Channel 7 just now. Dhani had a lot of fun during the filming and won the hearts of the reporter & camera crew.
Fiona Wood wants him to stay at PMH for 5 days on ward 5B which is the burns ward at PMH. If he is okay they will let him leave and come in for control a week later.
After the operation Dhani & Dad will be staying with a member of the Indonesian community here in Perth who has kindly offered to host them until Dhani is fit enough to travel home again. Thanks to Peter, Agus & Andy for arranging this. Many members of the community have rallied to provide Indonesian food during their stay so this will make the feel at home and hopefully speed Dhani's recovery.
Fremantle WA -18th Nov 2009
Fiona Wood yesterday afternoon to say she has rescheduled Dhani's operation and he will now be admitted into PMH on Friday 20th November. He will remain in hospital for 5 days, until he is well enough to be discharged.
After Dhani's appearance in the Fremantle Herald the word is out and Howard Gretton from Australian TV's Channel 7 will be meeting Mark, Dhani & Dad tomorrow to hear their story
The people of Western Australia have been marvelous and Dhani gets a lot of positive attention wherever he goes. We have been to Rotary Club breakfasts, lunches & dinners and even BBQ's.
Thank you to Pier 21 in Fremantle for giving us such an amazing deal on our accommodation until Friday.
The Indonesian community has been rallied to offer accommodation after Dhani is released from hospital and he and his dad will be staying with Andy Cahyono. Special thanks to Peter Smith of RC Western Endeavour for connecting us with Agus Adma Weda who has been responsible for mobilizing the Indonesian community to help out with food and accommodation for Dhani & Achmad. Well done all of you.
Mark will stay with friends in WA until Dhani comes out of hospital and then make sure he is settled at Andy's house before returning to Bali on business.
12th Nov 2009
Subsequent to our visit with Fiona Wood last week (see below) we have just been informed that Dhani will be admitted into PMH on Thursday 19th November.
Mark Savage and Danni at PMH waiting to
see Prof Fiona Wood
Fiona Wood, Achmad, Mark Savage and Dhani meet for the first time.
Fiona checks the elasticity in Dhani's face to establish an action plan.
Achmad tries his leg on for size. Previously it chafed
and did not hang properly.
Now it is perfect and immediately Achmad is comfortable walking without crutches
Achmad thanks Alan Crumlin for helping to transform his life! The smiles say it all!
Following the semi-successful fitting of Achmad's leg in February the leg was then sent to Perth in Western Australia for adjustments. This was done no less than three times and it still did not fit comfortably, therefore it was decided to kill two birds with one stone and bring Achmad to the factory for a personal fitting.
Mark and Maria organised all the paperwork needed to obtain the necessary visas, tickets were brought and accommodation sourced from Tony & Rosie Muir in Fremantle (Thank you) to enable Achmad to visit Alan Crumlin's workshop for a 'fine tuning' on his leg.
In the meantime Mark had been corresponding with Prof. Fiona Wood of the McCombe foundation so we decided to bring little Dhani to visit Fiona at Princess Margaret Hospital. The idea was to give Fiona an opportunity to examine Dhani's injuries in detail and in consultation with Mark to formulate a plan for the coming years.
On 5th November 2009 Prof. Fiona Wood surprised us all when she informed them that she could operate on Dhani immediately - performing a skin graft to make his face look more relaxed and natural, pinning back his ears and releasing his lower lip fully to relieve him of his permanent pout and enable him to eat properly.
Perhaps the most exciting news was when Fiona mentioned she and her team would give their time for free. How wonderful is that!
We still need to pay for the hospital stay, theatre charges, anesthetist, drugs and dressings etc. The total cost is estimated at AU$10,000 around ( US$9100, £5500). We still have AUD$6000 in Dhani's fund held by the Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak so we need help to raise the additional AU$4000 as soon as possible.
Mark has been visiting Rotary clubs in WA and has managed to raise some money and received two pledges, so it looks like we will reach our target.
We would like to give special thanks to the following people and organizations who have helped us during the trip so far.
Organisations
All the staff at the Australian Consulate in Bali
Air Asia, for extending the return tickets to Bali
FOS – Fremantle Orthotic Services – For persisting to make Achmad’s leg perfect.
RC Bali-Seminyak
RC Mandurah City
RC Perth
RC Western Endeavour
RC Swan Valley
PMH – Princess Margaret Hospital Perth
McCombe Foundation
Dianne & Michelle Smith - Pool & Spa
Wembley
Richard Chandler – Bali Hai Cruises
The Fremantle Herald
Channel 7 TV
More to follow…
Individuals
Prof Fiona Wood & Team
John Garland
Yael Kurlansky
Tracey Candido
Kathleen Kusinski
Tony & Rosie Muir
Gerry & Rose Gielingh
Frank Wheel
Noel Allen
Ken & Jeannie Webb
Ed & Lorraine Reed
Jeff & Dee Bullen
Emmaline Summerton
Sonya Rodgers
Alan & Linda Crumlin
John Fawcett for suggesting Fiona Wood
Eric Wheatley
More will be added before our trip is over. Thank You. Your selfless actions confirm you all to be outstanding human beings.
Six weeks ago, young burns victim Dhani struggled to eat, talk and even smile after being sprayed with petrol in a motorcycle crash.
