Emma Lived 11 Years of Her Life as a Warrior!!!

My name is Lori Bitner and I am a Family Care Coordinator for Here to Serve, a non-profit that supports families with children battling cancer in the home. Here to Serve only recently learned about 11-year-old Emma’s cancer a year after she was diagnosed in January 2023 with tumors surrounding her heart, PTLD, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. When Emma’s mom Elena Bravo reached out to Here to Serve, her second to youngest daughter of six children was intubated and in the final stages of her battle with cancer at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, CA.

This has been an unthinkable journey for Elena and her six children. Emma’s severe health issues began when she was 9 months old. Emma was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and underwent a heart transplant. That was an intense journey by itself but the story did not end there. The transplant was successful and Emma seemed to be on the road to recovery. However, in January 2023 at nine years of age, Emma developed pain in her stomach, chest, and bones. The original tests were all reassuring and Emma remained in the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford for further testing. Finally, a CT scan showed swollen lymph nodes everywhere, as well as cancer in her heart. She had developed PTLD, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, which is a complication that can happen anytime following a transplant. In an already stressful situation life got infinitely worse. Emma remained in Stanford, hundreds of miles from their home in Central CA, with her mom Elena for treatment. Elena lived through emotional, financial, and physical stress trying to keep everything together. She was sinking in every possible way…but who wouldn’t under the same circumstances?

In November of 2023, Emma was transported from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford to Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) for more intensive treatment where she remained until February 8th. She was then transferred back to Stanford where she remained until she passed away on April 23, 2024, at the age of 11 with her mom, siblings, and aunt by her side. Elena has been at her daughter Emma's bedside in both San Francisco and Los Angeles for the entire 15 months of treatment…hundreds of miles from her home in central CA, leaving her 21-year-old daughter to care for her other four children at home.

Emma’s dad abandoned both Elena and Emma and never paid child support. This left Elena without a significant other at home to help with expenses and the other children. Obviously, Elena was unable to work due to being in another part of the state, separated from her family, but she still needed to provide food and living expenses while away from home for her other children. She sunk into deep debt thinking she would have to deal with it later hoping all the time her daughter’s life would be spared. It was not and the debt intensified the magnitude of the emotional despair.

This horrific 15 months has put the family in emotional and financial devastation and now Elena needs to bury her daughter and mourn the loss while caring for her other five children (one graduating high school this year). Losing a child and a sibling is the most debilitating loss a family can endure, but add to that a debt that is so overwhelming that it takes your breath away! Although help was not there before Emma’s passing, we can now be there to help raise money for funeral expenses and hopefully, a little more to ease some of the financial burden while the family mourns and can get back on their feet. Please consider supporting the Bravo family with a donation of any amount and help bring hope to Elena and her children that they can go on…