Hi there,

I'm fundraising for a dear friend, a Queen of Dance, a woman with the biggest heart, Ninafrika. She is one of the most striking personalities in Cabarete, DR, the Founder and Director of Ninafrika Dance School, and the kindest soul on Earth.

If you visited the North Coast of the Dominican Republic, you might have taken a bachata dance class with Nina or the "Unleash Your Sexuality" dance workshop. She probably helped you unleash your inner Diva or made you feel great after just one class. She gifted you her good energy, and now it's our time to help her.

She had a serious health scare last week, and we almost lost her.

Nina has been working non-stop for several months to save enough money for an operation to remove multiple uterine fibrosis cysts at a good clinic in Paris. She then waited two months for a spot to open up. Finally, she was admitted. After what usually is an ambulatory procedure, Nina didn't get better. Instead, she had difficulty breathing and complained to the doctors, who kept dismissing her concerns.

When they eventually checked her lungs, they wheeled her straight into the ER and then the ICU: she had a pulmonary embolism. Nina spent eight days in the ICU, on breathing tubes and catheters, unable to eat or move. In her own words, she "went through hell": a heavy gynecological procedure followed by almost complete lung failure.

I asked her how I could help. Nina said that the mental support on social media has been tremendous, but she's also in "a financial hole" and doesn't have enough money even for the return ticket from France. Her dance school is on hold, and so are her rent payments.

However, our Nina is a fighter. She has many "amazing projects" planned for the fall, a new assistant is starting in September, and she has faith that things must turn out better. Her father died of pulmonary embolism. Nina lived and is recovering at her sister's place in France. We should help our Queen of Dance to recover so that she can keep shining her magic light on all of us.

Thank you.

Vica