help the Santarossa family, during a difficult time

Hi, my name is Victoria and I’m a friend of Livio and Erin.

Livio, his wife Erin and their four young children need our help and support.

Nine year old Joya was an active and healthy girl but lately had been extremely tired, had a poor appetite or never full. On July 12, Joya was taken by ambulance to the IWK Children’s Hospital in Nova Scotia after alarming signs that her pupil, mouth, arm and foot on her left side had become noticeably impaired.

After an MRI Joya was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Joya’s surgeon reported the tumour had been there growing for years. Whether or not it is cancerous is still not confirmed but due to the size and location, immediate intervention was necessary. All the worse case scenarios were a possibility for Joya; She could end up blind, paralyzed, in a coma or even die.

After what seemed like days, the surgery was over and a stent was inserted to relieve the pressure in Joya’s brain but the tumour is still pushing on the pituitary and hypothalamus and must be treated with radiation. Since the surgery, Joya has lost peripheral vision in both eyes and her appetite and thirst regulators are not functioning as they should. (She can’t tell if she’s thirsty or hungry or full)

This has obviously taken the whole family by surprise and after being forced to move from Vancouver, BC to New Brunswick in October of 2022, their focus has shifted from setting up their home and getting to know the community and finding employment to daily monitoring Joya’s health, traveling more than 3 plus hours to IWK for monthly MRI’s, hormone, eye and blood tests and planning for radiation treatments in Florida.

Since Livio is the sole provider and has missed and will continue to miss days of work and only have one vehicle, they are trying to raise enough money so they can get caught up with all their bills, travel for treatments and still be able to spend quality time with Joya and her siblings.

Thank you to the people who have been there and will continue to be there during this time, it’s greatly appreciated by Livio, Erin, Sage, Grace, Silas and Joya.