Help Rafa and family after Leukemia diagnosis

A few days ago my friends Jeniffer and Jad received some of the worst news that they could in that their 13 month old baby Rafael, Rafa for short, has Leukemia. This past year has already been tough for this family, as Rafa has Down syndrome and has already had numerous health problems which they have dealt with incredibly.

When Rafa was just 2 days old he had to have surgery on his stomach, as it had a blockage. When he was 6 months old he had to have surgery on his heart as there were 2 holes present in it. He has had to be on a feeding tube throughout his whole life because of these issues too. Now they have had this diagnosis thrown their way and they need support.

Jen has now finished her maternity leave, and to make matters worse she was laid off in that time, when her company abruptly went under, so she is now currently unemployed. They are currently relying solely on Jad for income.

The treatment he will require is about 6 months worth of chemotherapy, potentially longer depending on how he reacts to the treatment. This will be extremely difficult on the family as they will be living in the hospital for this time, and having to watch their son go through such a brutal treatment. It also means that Jen will not be able to find a job as she will need to be with him 24/7 when Jad is not around.

These funds will go a long way to help support the family with all the associated costs in caring for a sick child. It will help with rent payments, travel costs to and from the hospital, groceries and food as they will be living at the hospital. It will also help if Jad needs to take time off to be with his son and not worry about not making money in that time. It can also provide Rafa with toys, clothes, medications after treatment and any general support the family may need in and after this time.

I ask for you to give whatever you can to help this wonderful family stay on their feet in their time of greatest need. Any donations are greatly appreciated and anyone who can raise awareness of this situation is appreciated too.

Thank you for all your love and support in this difficult time ❤️

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Hi everyone. We just wanted to update you all on how little Rafa is getting on with his treatment. He has now nearly finished his second round of Chemo, and everything is going very well so far. After the first round, the cancer went into remission which is fantastic. That means everything they do from now on is to prevent it from coming back, but does not mean it will get easier, as seen with this second cycle. This cycle has been particularly intense and Rafa has struggled much more with this one, that being said he is slowly starting to recover and we will be looking to start round 3 of 6 in the next couple of weeks. We expect each cycle to take longer than the last due to his bone marrow getting weaker and taking longer to recover, so we expect to be in the hospital for a few months still, but we're hoping to be home by his birthday on the 24th June at least, anything sooner is a bonus. 

 

Thank you once again for all of your generosity, and we will update you again soon! ❤️