“Daddy, please tell the cancer to get out of my stomach!” 💔

I am Alexander, the father of Daniela—my little girl—who just celebrated her third birthday and is in the hospital connected to devices and tubes.

For months now, her tiny body has been subjected to chemotherapy. Every night I sit next to her, and every night I listen to her cries of pain.

Then she asks me with the smallest and most innocent voice in the world, “Daddy, promise you won’t let me die.” I am not prepared for this. No parent is ready to hear their three-year-old child say such painful things.

On July 22, 2024, our lives changed in an instant. We were informed by the doctors that Daniela has a rare and aggressive cancer that is rare in children: lymphoblastic leukemia with the Philadelphia chromosome.

Our lively three-year-old girl, who has always been full of joy, is now fighting for her life instead of playing in nursery school and having fun with her friends.

Every day that passes, I watch her getting weaker and weaker. She sits on her bed, holding a small teddybear in her hand, eyes full of tears, and cries to me, “Daddy, my body is burning. Help me!” My heart is shattered watching her suffer, losing every drop of strength she has, and there is nothing I can do to help.😥

The chemotherapy treatments are no longer helping.

The cancer is spreading fast, and the doctors are now saying that our time is running out.

Her screams of pain haven’t let me sleep a full night in three months. Sometimes, as I sit next to her, I listen to her small breaths, and notice that with each passing day, her breathing becomes more difficult and heavier.

I’m scared to doze off for a second only to find she is no longer with me. I am so frightened and terrified, and it completely overwhelms me. My mind is constantly filled with thoughts of losing her—what if I don’t succeed in saving her? What if I lose my little girl only because of money?

Yesterday, I dozed off for a moment and dreamt I was placing a beautiful flower on a tiny grave—and saw Daniela’s name etched on the tombstone. I jolted awake in terror. It was then that I promised her as well as myself that I would do everything in my power to save her life. I will not let cancer rip my little girl away from me.

After searching hospitals all over the world—including New York and Boston—and anywhere they were doing innovative research, the doctors found a new cutting edge treatment for Daniela’s type of cancer being done in Houston, Texas. The moment I heard the news, I felt reborn.

But then the harsh reality hit: the costs involved are unimaginably huge and it is completely beyond our ability to achieve by ourselves. And I returned to the same question again and again, “As her father, how can it be that I can’t save her life only because I don’t have money? How can I look my baby in the eyes when I know our time is quickly running out?”

This morning she asked me, “Daddy, do you think that when the cancer goes out of my stomach I can run again? Can we run together?” I was silent. Then I just hugged her so tightly and promised her that I would do anything—everything—just so she would live! But I can't do it alone!

I am begging you, please help me save my Daniela. She’s just a tiny girl. It doesn’t make sense that I will lose my daughter only because of money.

Please don’t look away or abandon us. Every day that passes may be too late.🙏

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