Give Sophie A Fighting Chance Against Brain Tumor

Summary

My adopted Cambodian niece Sophie, 4 years old, is fighting for her life. She has a rare form of brain tumor called craniopharyngioma. Her only treatment option is radiotherapy. Cambodia is a developing country and healthcare is not covered. Sophie’s parents are poor and cannot afford the treatment. I am personally covering part of Sophie’s treatment cost and am raising $7,000 through this Go Fund Me for the rest. Let’s help Sophie have a chance at a future!

Updates

$1000+ ALREADY ! THANK YOU SO MUCH ! Sophie's family and I are so grateful for your generosity!

July 27: Today, Sophie is starting radiotherapy at Calmette Hospital for what we expect to be a 6-week course of treatment.

Sophie's Story

Sophie was born just a few months after I moved to Cambodia in January of 2018. I've always considered her my niece -- in no small part because her parents chose to give her this beautiful name, which means wisdom, on my advice.

Her first two years were as happy as childhood can be in the beautiful lands of the Cambodian countryside, enameled with paddy fields, dotted with Buddhist pagodas and colorful Cambodian homes. Her family never had much money, her father had to work hard in the capital to sustain them, but they were happy.

I remember visiting Sophie and her big sister, Siv Mey (who was only 4 or 5 back then) in November of 2019, for Siv Mey's birthday.

I drove my moto more than a hundred kilometers (almost eighty miles, for my American friends) and back the same day, just so I could celebrate with the family.

Sophie was approaching two years old.

She was a beautiful, smart little girl who walked everywhere and had just started talking, smiling and laughing. She had a happy life in front of her.

Siv Mey getting ready for her birthday in November 2019. Sophie, on the right, is walking into her mother's arms. This was just before she got sick.

Shortly after, in December, she got a bit sick. But kids get sick all the time, and nobody worried. Her family took her to a doctor - it was probably just the flu or something similar. She just needed more rest. So she rested, but she wasn't getting better as the month progressed. By Christmas, she could no longer walk. Her parents took her to the capital to bring her to Kantha Bopha's Children's Hospital. On the 30, she had an MRI. The next day, at 8 PM, as I was getting ready to celebrate New Year's Eve with close friends at my favorite hotel in Kampot, her dad called me to tell me the doctors had found a brain tumor.

I haven't quite been able to celebrate New Year like before since then. I think of that phone call. I immediately canceled my booking for the rest of the week and drove back to the capital like a madman the next day.

In the week that followed, Sophie was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a rare kind of brain tumor located in the center of the brain, just next to important structures regulating vision, growth, and hormones. She had surgery a few days later. I still remember how relieved I was to see her get out of the operating room and how anxious I was in the following weeks, as I visited her and her mother in the pediatric ICU, surrounded by doctors and the heartrending beep of life-support machines around a two-years-old. There were complications; there was too much water in her brain, and her doctors had to install drains.

Sophie was able to return home several months later, although she often needed to go to the hospital, and fought off a life-threatening infection in June of that year. Her parents moved in with the father's family - the first that ever welcomed me to their village home - close to Phnom Penh so they could be closer to the hospital.

Sophie (on the right) and I for the Cambodian New Year in April 2022. She struggles with weight because her brain tumor is located near the part of the brain that regulates hormones.

Her family is poor but works hard to give her the best life possible. The whole family pitched in to build a tiny house for Sophie, Siv Mey and their parents. To make it easier for Sophie to rest in the blistering heat of Cambodia, they pitched in again to get her air conditioning. At home, her sister takes care of her every day, playing with her and trying to teach her how to read in English and Khmer.

Here she is, playing with a toy I just bought her and looking so happy!

Sophie's father Srun sent me that lovely picture of her, she looks so happy, it warms my heart

Unfortunately, a routine scan in June revealed that the tumor had returned. Surgery is no longer an option because of the high risks involved. Her best fighting chance now is radiotherapy, but Kantha Bopha does not yet have the required material to do it themselves, so she has to be treated at a government hospital. But Cambodia is still a developing country, and treatment is not free. The cost of the entire course of treatment for her is over $7,500.

That is four times the amount of money her parents make in a year. Her extended family has already spent most of their savings and borrowed money to help Sophie. They cannot afford to pay for treatment. I've been helping with Sophie's medical expenses for over two years, but it's not enough.

The average salary in Cambodia is under $200. The GDP of Cambodia is $25B: the whole economy of our country is about 1-2% of the GDP of a single large Western city like New York or Paris.

What You Can Do To Help Her

That is why I made this page: to give her a fighting chance. I know how generous my friends all over the world are. I know how many of those reading this page care about social justice and helping those less fortunate.

$7,500 is a lot of money, but it's only 30x$250, 75x$100 or 150x$50. We can get there. Pitch in whatever you can and please consider sharing Sophie's story with 2-3 close friends who may be able to also help.

And with a bit of luck, you can help me raise more for Sophie's future -- with her condition, she'll never be able to get medical insurance and she needs your support for a chance at having a decent life.