PURVIS — Friends and fellow church members of a woman fighting for her life are hosting two events Saturday to raise money for medical treatment.

Sharon Pighet’s loved ones are raising money to help her fight the effects of CADASIL, a rare disease that inhibits blood flow to the brain and causes strokes.

Sharon Livingston, her friend and former fellow choir member at Beauty Spot United Methodist Church in Rowland, said Pighet was the picture of health until she had a stroke, which was followed by additional strokes that increasingly diminished her ability to function.

“This lady was very talented, a very hard worker in church, she was very smart — she could sing like there’s no tomorrow. We sang in our choir together,” Livingston said. “She was healthy. We’d have walk-a-thons at the church and she’d walk. When I tell you this girl was fit, she was fit. Sharon got stripped of everything that she enjoyed. But she’s still here.”

Pighet tells part of her story on a GoFundMe page, saying that she had her first mini-stroke on May 2, 2014, at the age of 47. A year later, she had another stroke that affected her speech and robbed her of some use of her right hand. She has suffered two more strokes, one in April and one in May. Now, she needs oxygen therapy to get more oxygen to her brain.

“Praise be to God, I am still here to tell my story,” Pighet wrote.

According to information on Pighet’s GoFundMe page, each oxygen therapy session can range from $75 to $200 and she will need at least 40 sessions. The therapy is not approved for CADASIL treatment, she said, so her insurance will not pay.

Livingston said there will be a charity basketball game from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at South Robeson High School. Players will pay $5 each and admission for all others is $2.

From 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, there will be a car and bike show at Purvis Ballpark at N.C. 710 that will include food sales, face painting, entertainment, a deejay, and a bounce house, according to Livingston.

The entrance fee is $10.

“People will show off their old school cars and their bikes,” Livingston said.

Sharon Pighet
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_Pighet-Sharon.jpgSharon Pighet

By Terri Ferguson Smith

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Reach Terri Ferguson Smith at 910-416-5865.