Help 5 year old Maribel Fight Stage 4 Rare Cancer

Hello, my name is Maria Hnatiw, and I am raising funds on behalf of my student's younger sister, Maribel Sanchez.

I have been a special education teacher for an underserved community for the last 25 years, and have come across various situations in which I would work with families in-need to try and get them the resources necessary. This past year, one of my sweetest, and happiest students started to show up to class very sad and upset. After a conversation with my student, she indicated that her younger sister (4 years old) was in the process of being diagnosed with a rare cancer. In addition to dealing with this upsetting news about her younger sister, she also took on a second job, while being a junior in high school, to try to alleviate the financial burden of her sister's medication and medical bills.

Before being diagnosed, Maribel was like any other 4-year old girl, who loved to play with her brothers and sisters, loved school, always smiling and enjoyed playing with her dolls. One day Maribel started to have neck pain, which resulted in a lump and then a doctor's visit. After being in-and-out of the hospital to figure out what was causing the neck pain, Maribel was diagnosed with stage 4 Poorly Differentiated Chordoma (PDC).

PDC is a rare, aggressive subtype of chordoma, a bone tumor that typically develops in the spine or skull base. It's characterized by a more rapid growth and a greater tendency to spread compared to conventional chordomas.

To date, Maribel has had to undergo 9 separate surgeries which include the addition of a feeding tube, a breathing tube, and neck tumor removal. Recently, Maribel and her family was notified that the cancer has now spread to her lungs which has made it difficult for her to breathe, and has had to halt her chemotherapy. Maribel also has never been to Disneyland before, and has a dream to go to Disneyland, hopefully some of the funds raised will allow Maribel and her family to go to Disneyland.

Maribel's family has already incurred tens of thousands in medical bills due to her required medications and medical procedures. Maribel's mom is not working so that she can spend her time being at Maribel's side, while Maribel's dad works to pay the rent, and day to day bills.

Please help in assisting their family with the overwhelming medical bills to provide ease to the Roman family. They are a humble, hard working family who do not like asking for help.

All money raised will be directly transferred to Maribel's mother, Maricela Roman's bank account to pay for their bills. Let them concentrate on getting their sweet girl into remission.