A trust fund has been set up for a Sedley-area girl, Rayne Holten, to assist her family with medical expenses related to treatment of her cerebral palsy.

The daughter of Gordon and Anita Holten, the two-and-a-half year old girl has severe brain damage and cortical blindness, cannot sit by herself and cannot hold her head up the way a girl her age should be able to. She takes two different types of medication to control her seizures.

Treatment by Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is available, with a free-standing clinic established at Manitou Beach, Sask.; outside of this clinic, the nearest one is located in B.C. or Ontario. The therapy involves placing the patient in a pressurized chamber where 100 per cent oxygen is administered for a prescribed time.

The therapy is used for those with cerebral palsy, stroke victims, multiple sclerosis, autism, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and some forms of sports injuries. Her doctor was consulted about the treatments and has given the green light for Rayne to take them.

The procedure will start with 40 treatments, at a cost of $100 per session, plus a doctor examination fee of $50. There is also a cost for the family to stay in a hotel near the clinic, at a total cost of $1,050.

Saskatchewan Health does not cover this form of therapy, so the family has to raise all the funds themselves, and say the trust fund has raised about $1,100 so far.

The trust fund has been set up at the Sedley Credit Union. Contributions can be brought there, or mailed to Box 152, Sedley, Sask., S0G 4K0, with cheques made out to the Rayne Holten Trust Fund.