This GoFundMe is on behalf of my friend Sandy and her 6 year old daughter Aubrey.

In July Aubrey started feeling ill, she would complain of her stomach hurting a lot. One particular day things got worse, Aubrey was so sick vomiting and crying in pain so her mom Sandy took her to the ER, where she was admitted for dehydration and was told she was suffering from a stomach virus. After that day they were just back and forth in and out of hospitals and her pediatrician’s office who she saw about 6 times since July and still every time it came back to the same thing that she just had a stomach virus. After her symptoms continued without going away they wanted to test her for Mono because she carried the symptoms. Hoping for answers she continued feeling sick with daily vomiting until Sandy decided to take her to CHOMP, a different hospital with hopefully different results hoping they could find what was wrong with Aubrey. Unfortunately, they just told her the same thing that she just had a stomach virus. She was starting to feel hopeless with no answers as to what was wrong with Aubrey until the day their lives changed forever came. The day after they went to CHOMP Aubrey complained all day of her head hurting, holding her head and screaming and she suffered a seizure. They called 911 and she was taken to Memorial Hospital in Salinas where they first told her there wasn’t anything wrong with Aubrey and that maybe her problems were Psychological because she was attached to her Mommy. They did a CT scan and found Aubrey had a brain tumor. Because she needed surgery they were flown out to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital where they removed the tumor and she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Ependymoma. Aubrey will need to recover there and will begin therapy at the end of the month to re-learn everything again from talking to walking. Aubrey will also start radiation therapy at Stanford Children’s Health.

As you can imagine, this is a life altering experience for all of them. Sandy and her husband are both working parents but they also have a 1.5 year old daughter at home and now have to take time off from work to care for both girls. Because the hospital is a couple hours away from home, Sandy is taking time off indefinitely to be with Aubrey. I am hoping we can help them raise enough funds so that Sandy doesn’t have to worry about anything but Aubrey and her recovery.

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. If you cannot donate please share the campaign and all prayers are welcome for sweet Aubrey.

UPDATE: I raised the goal for this sweet family because of the outpouring of love they have received and will continue to receive. Thank you all so much for the generous donations and for keeping Aubrey in your prayers. 

VENMO: @sandyvelazquez