Save Hannah- 11 yearold with cancer
Donation protected
We CAN defeat Hannah’s childhood cancer, with YOUR help.
A message from Hannah's parents, Julian & Hayley:
Hannah is a beautiful 11-year-old who likes to dance, sing, do karate and make everyone laugh. Less than a month ago, we could not pronounce “Embryonal Parameningeal Rhabd omyosarcoma “and now it is a frequent term in our vocabulary. And if that weren’t hard enough, “Grp4” and “stage 4” are attached to the label. And “right sphenoid sinus and carotid artery”. And “inoperable” and “life threatening”.
Our lives have been irreversibly altered. Our daughter has cancer. Our beautiful and innocent 11-year old now says, "The whole side of my face is numb." Hannah had complained of headaches. We thought it was a sinus infection. We have learned that a soft deadly mass, more than an inch wide had been silently growing inside her, next to her brain, without symptom or warning.
Does inoperable mean incurable? Medical science has made great progress and Hannah can benefit from these advances. The doctors tell us that there IS treatment. Chemotherapy CAN be successful, along with radiation. We raise our hopes. We are in the biggest battle of our lives.
We have started aggressive chemotherapy. But Hannah needs an even more innovative approach that is not available in South Africa where we live. A new radiation therapy called Pencil Beam Proton Beam Therapy, that allows precise amounts of targeted radiation and does not damage surrounding tissue, is Hannah’s only option.
The problem: Proton Beam Therapy is extremely (repeat, extremely) expensive.
The solution: A long journey to a cutting-edge pediatric cancer facility. And $500,000.
Five hundred thousand dollars to get the Proton Beam Radiation treatment and Chemotherapy to kill the cancer and save our daughter’s mental capacities so she can grow up and look forward to a normal life.
Like you, we’ve worked hard, been responsible, planned ahead, saved, but not enough to get the only therapy that has any chance of killing the cancer inside her without killing the brain that makes her who she is.
In the last few weeks, we have learned more about cancer treatment than we ever wanted to know. Hannah’s hair has fallen out, and she has shown strength none of us knew she had. We have gathered family and friends around us, in a cry for help that has reached people ten thousand miles away and we are urgently building a life-saving network for Hannah.
Hannah never expected to need this kind of help, but now it is crucial for her to be saved. We thought we had planned for the future. But plans can be shattered in an instant. Please help Hannah in any way that you can.
This campaign is being managed by David Greenstein from Connecticut who was at school with Hannah's father, Julian, in South Africa and they have been friends for over 50 years!
The funds collected in this GoFundMe campaign will be used to pay for Hannah's Pencil Beam Proton Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, Hospital and Medical expenses in the USA as well as her family's travel costs to and from the USA and expenses while they are in the USA.
Funds from this campaign will be paid to a professionally audited Trust Fund set up for Hannah to manage those expenses. In addition Funds will be paid directly to the Hospitals and Treatment Centers where necessary.
A message from Hannah's parents, Julian & Hayley:
Hannah is a beautiful 11-year-old who likes to dance, sing, do karate and make everyone laugh. Less than a month ago, we could not pronounce “Embryonal Parameningeal Rhabd omyosarcoma “and now it is a frequent term in our vocabulary. And if that weren’t hard enough, “Grp4” and “stage 4” are attached to the label. And “right sphenoid sinus and carotid artery”. And “inoperable” and “life threatening”.
Our lives have been irreversibly altered. Our daughter has cancer. Our beautiful and innocent 11-year old now says, "The whole side of my face is numb." Hannah had complained of headaches. We thought it was a sinus infection. We have learned that a soft deadly mass, more than an inch wide had been silently growing inside her, next to her brain, without symptom or warning.
Does inoperable mean incurable? Medical science has made great progress and Hannah can benefit from these advances. The doctors tell us that there IS treatment. Chemotherapy CAN be successful, along with radiation. We raise our hopes. We are in the biggest battle of our lives.
We have started aggressive chemotherapy. But Hannah needs an even more innovative approach that is not available in South Africa where we live. A new radiation therapy called Pencil Beam Proton Beam Therapy, that allows precise amounts of targeted radiation and does not damage surrounding tissue, is Hannah’s only option.
The problem: Proton Beam Therapy is extremely (repeat, extremely) expensive.
The solution: A long journey to a cutting-edge pediatric cancer facility. And $500,000.
Five hundred thousand dollars to get the Proton Beam Radiation treatment and Chemotherapy to kill the cancer and save our daughter’s mental capacities so she can grow up and look forward to a normal life.
Like you, we’ve worked hard, been responsible, planned ahead, saved, but not enough to get the only therapy that has any chance of killing the cancer inside her without killing the brain that makes her who she is.
In the last few weeks, we have learned more about cancer treatment than we ever wanted to know. Hannah’s hair has fallen out, and she has shown strength none of us knew she had. We have gathered family and friends around us, in a cry for help that has reached people ten thousand miles away and we are urgently building a life-saving network for Hannah.
Hannah never expected to need this kind of help, but now it is crucial for her to be saved. We thought we had planned for the future. But plans can be shattered in an instant. Please help Hannah in any way that you can.
This campaign is being managed by David Greenstein from Connecticut who was at school with Hannah's father, Julian, in South Africa and they have been friends for over 50 years!
The funds collected in this GoFundMe campaign will be used to pay for Hannah's Pencil Beam Proton Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, Hospital and Medical expenses in the USA as well as her family's travel costs to and from the USA and expenses while they are in the USA.
Funds from this campaign will be paid to a professionally audited Trust Fund set up for Hannah to manage those expenses. In addition Funds will be paid directly to the Hospitals and Treatment Centers where necessary.
Organizer
David Greenstein
Organizer
Stamford, CT
