Funds for Anaiya (overseas trip and medical)

Update: Thank you all for your support and continued prayers as we prepared for surgery this week. I’m so blessed that we have secured funds for her school trip, but please know any funds past our goal will be used for our ongoing medical bills.

History: i have been hesitant to create a GoFundMe account but my family has given me some great reasons to do it, so here I am asking for your help on behalf of my baby girl!

This summer my 12-year- old daughter Anaiya and father started writing fundraising letters to family members and close family friends asking for their financial support to make it possible for her to participate in a once in lifetime opportunity to go to France and Spain with her school this coming March. Thanks to the generous donations we have received, we know that she will be able to go but we are not all the way there yet.

As a family, we were planning to cover about 30 percent but that has recently become a little more challenging as we continue to incur medical bills from her having recent complications with her glaucoma and of course her father’s ongoing medical bills. He is also undergoing treatment/therapy with the Cleveland Clinic. Even with insurance, the costs are overwhelming especially now that we’re a one income household.

Background: Anaiya was born with glaucoma. It’s not something she talks or we post much about. However, the fact is that she has had at least 9 different eye surgeries and 9 other procedures under anesthesia, all to ultimately save her eyesight. We were able to go a couple of years not needing anything outside her daily eye drops but over the last few months that has changed. She has already experienced some vision loss in her left eye and her doctors are trying their best to reduce further damage. Her most recent surgery took place in September. However, we have learned that the results were not what we hoped and are preparing for another, more complicated surgery after the Thanksgiving holiday. They are going to replace one of her current eye valves with another type of valve that is usually not used in kids, but is our best option at this time.

So as we prepare for that, I’m asking for financial support to ensure she can go on this dream trip with her school and enjoy it to the fullest without us sacrificing funds that are needed to cover medical bills.

The last 2 years have been tough on our family and while there’s some things we can’t control, we have been working hard to allow them to continue the activities they were doing before hand, as dancing and ice skating bring her great joy. I bring this up because these things are being made possible by family and extended family who “sponsor” a majority of the associated costs. This is why I’m working to reach outside that circle in hopes of gaining more support.

Thank you for your consideration and we thank you in advance to anyone deciding to make a donation.