This is from Barbara, Juninho's sister.

This letter is a way for me to express myself since I feel that only words can really describe this difficult time my family and I are experiencing.

Recently, my younger brother was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his brain, more precisely GLIOBLASTOMA. Having a rare tumor as a cancer is not easy to talk about and at the moment my brother is at the hospital recovering from a very risky surgery.

It all began when my brother went to the hospital to understand what he was feeling as he was having difficulty speaking and writing and the doctors advised him to undergo a biopsy.

Despite our apprehensions, everything went smoothly and after the biopsy, he was released by the doctors. But unfortunately, that was one of the worst nights of my life. I woke up to find my brother feeling sick and unable to feel his right side nor speak and soon after he started convulsing.

It was at that moment I thought I was going to lose him, but we were able to call an ambulance and rush him to hospital. Soon after, we were then called by the doctors to discuss his situation, and I have never felt more crushed and scared in my whole life. We were put in a room with the Doctor and Psychologist and got the worst news of our lives as my brother had to undergo another very risky surgery, because his brain was swollen due to a cerebral hemorrhage, and we were told only a miracle would save his life.

Our only reaction at the time was to get on our knees and pray, asking God to be present and control the doctor's hand as he operated and that he would bring my brother back. I have never prayed so much in my life, and I have never asked God so much for my brother's return. My brother is our life, and we would be lost without him.

While only 23 years old, my brother is a hardworking person, dedicated to his family, loveable, and thoughtful, among other things. He always helped take care of our family.

On top of that, my father has only 6% of his kidneys functional, but we believe one day he will get a kidney transplant, and my mother was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable cancer, and I thought I would lose her, but thank God, she recovered. She is not cured, but is stable now.

In other words, unfortunately, my parents cannot work and they are just getting some small help from the government which barely covers anything.

Our battle hasn’t been easy as we are facing too many challenges but my brother never allowed us to give up! He was there for my dad, and he was there for my mom, even when she had to shave her head, they did it together.

Having said all that, TODAY we are in all this together, we are praying to God for him to be a living miracle.

We thank you for all the prayers, we really appreciate it, but we are also here to ask for help!

Unfortunately, we are struggling to support our family as with my brother in this position, our expenses increase quite significantly with all the care we need to provide him.

Please see below some estimates

Monthly Cost:

Nurse R$ 1400,00

Physio: R$ 650,00 – 3x week

Phono: R$ 850,00 – 3x week

Medicines: R$ 300,00 – average

Diaper: 500,00

And other general expenses like special sheets so we can move him in the bed and some other materials, oils, etc.

If you feel you can help, we would highly appreciate it, must most important, please pray for us.