“Save Baby Ayla’s Life – Fighting Aggressive Leukemia”

Our Baby Ayla Is Fighting for Her Life — Please Help Us Save Her

At just 20 months old, our sweet baby girl Ayla Dandash is enduring more pain and suffering than most people will face in a lifetime. Her giggles have been replaced by cries. Her first steps were taken in a hospital ward. And her childhood is being stolen by an invisible monster: B-type Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

Ayla was born healthy. But in December 2024, everything changed.

She suddenly became irritable, weak, and pale. Her belly began to swell unnaturally. Her fever spiked to 39.5°C (103°F). On December 20, we rushed her to the hospital as she stopped urinating and struggled to stay awake.

There, we received the words no parent is ever ready to hear:

“Your daughter has cancer.”

Ayla was diagnosed with B-type ALL, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. But her case wasn’t ordinary—it was complicated, high-risk, and life-threatening from the very beginning.

The leukemia took a brutal toll on her tiny body:

• Her blood counts collapsed—severe anemia (hemoglobin at 5.7), dangerously low platelets (79,000), and sky-high white blood cells—putting her at immediate risk of internal bleeding and infection.

• Her kidneys began to fail, and she was diagnosed with acute kidney injury due to tumor lysis syndrome, a complication where cancer cells die so rapidly that they poison the body.

• Her abdomen filled with fluid. She couldn’t urinate. Her blood turned acidic. She was suffocating from the inside out.

Doctors inserted a peritoneal dialysis catheter to save her kidneys. For 5 sessions, she was hooked to a dialysis machine while we sat by her bedside, praying she would open her eyes again.

She needed constant transfusions of red blood cells, platelets, and albumin to keep her alive. She was put on total parenteral nutrition—fed through her veins—because she couldn’t eat. Her little body became bloated, bruised, and weak. She had to be moved to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for continuous monitoring.

Then, came another devastating blow:

Genetic testing revealed Ayla had an MLL gene rearrangement in chromosome 11q23—a rare and dangerous mutation that makes leukemia more aggressive, more resistant, and harder to treat. Her protocol had to be changed to a high-risk chemotherapy regimen (CALL-F01: B-HR), which came with even more toxic side effects.

Still, she fought.

Despite febrile neutropenia, life-threatening infections, and severe constipation from the medications, Ayla endured every procedure, every injection, every sleepless night.

But time is against us.

On February 4, 2025, after weeks of chemo, a bone marrow test still showed 7% blast cells—cancer is still in her bones. We are still awaiting results from advanced MRD testing. Ayla’s fight is far from over. She needs continued aggressive treatment, possibly a bone marrow transplant, and more specialized care abroad if her condition worsens.

We are emotionally, physically, and financially drained. The cost of her treatment—hospital stays, tests, medications, transfusions, dialysis—is overwhelming. Many of the drugs she needs are hard to find or not covered. Delays could cost her life.

We are desperately asking for your help.

Your donation could be the reason Ayla sees her second birthday. That she ever gets to play outside, laugh with her friends, or start school.

Please—help us give Ayla a chance at life.

Donate, share, and pray. Every act of kindness brings hope.

With broken hearts and endless love,

Ayla’s parents