Making Ade-line’s grade R dreams come true
Ade-line needs help to make her dreams of attending grade R come true.

Ade-line du Preez, a very loving five-year-old, has a dream in her heart of attending grade R this year. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with severe ITP- Immune Thrombocytopaenia (Severely low platelets) in December 2023, which makes this dream nearly impossible unless she receives a lot of very expensive medical care.
Born in July 2019, Ade-line’s father, Arno, describes her as a little girl with a spark for life.
“Ade-line is a very loving child who always wants to help. She loves to have people around her and if she gets half a chance she will talk your ears off. She also has a great love for animals.”
Unfortunately, on December 16th 2023, the family noticed something is not quite right with their little girl.
“We noticed that Ade-line suddenly had blood spots under her skin. We took her to our GP, who in turn immediately arranged for her to be admitted. A lot of tests were done and she was diagnosed with ITP,” Arno remembers.
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a rare blood disorder that affects how your blood clots. When your blood can’t clot, you may bruise easily, bleed more than normal when you’re hurt or start bleeding for no reason. Sometimes, ITP goes away without treatment. Other times, it’s a chronic condition, meaning treatment eases symptoms but doesn’t cure it.
Ade-line is an older sister to her twin siblings of two years old and she initially responded to high dose solumedrol and Polygam but decreased her platelet count as soon as her steroid dosage was weaned. She received four doses of Rituximab and responded well to treatment with her platelet count normalising, and she was able to be weaned off prednisone. Her platelet count was stable for most of the rest of the year, with occasional drops, usually related to infections.
On December 18th 2024, Ade-line was noted to have developed numerous petechiae and purpura without any history of trauma. A full blood count confirmed severe thrombocytopaenia with a platelet count of 14. She was restarted on a high-dose of oral prednisone, but a repeat full blood count done on December 20th 2024 showed that her platelet count had decreased further to 11. As such, she was admitted to Potchefstroom Mediclinic. She received two doses of Polygam and three doses of high dose Solumedrol. She responded with her platelet count increasing to 129. Unfortunately, she developed a new infection on December 24th 2024, and her parents noted multiple new bruises and some large wet purpuric lesions in her mouth. Her repeat platelet count had decreased to 17. She was readmitted for intravenous antibiotics and received one further dose of Polygam and three doses of Solumedrol. She was discharged on high dose oral prednisone. She did not develop any further bruising or bleeding, but her platelet count did not improve and has remained less than 20.
Ade-line received Rituximab as a 2nd line therapy in January 2025. As such, she now requires 3rd line treatment. She will be started on Romiplostim, which will be increased weekly depending on her response and platelet count. As her platelet count remains less than 20.
This needs to be started as a matter of urgency as she is at high risk for developing a brain bleed. Unfortunately, there are a lot of medical expenses the medical aid does not pay for.
If you would like to help Ade-line on her road to recovery so that she can reach her dream of going to school, you can do so by donating to their BackaBuddy account.
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/helping-ade-line