Dawn's Dream

  IMAGINE…

Eleven years old.  Bright.  Vibrant.  Outgoing.  A beautiful little girl with a great big smile.  A girlie-girl who loves the color turquoise, and animals…all animals, but especially pandas, giraffes and unicorns.  :-)  A lively little girl who loves beach volleyball and combing the shore for sand dollars.  A little girl with friends, and cats, and a dream of someday visiting Disney World.  A little girl diagnosed with a very rare cancerous germinoma tumor in the center of her brain.  Now imagine….

                                   she’s YOUR little girl.

You’ve known for two years that something was wrong.  You’ve taken her to the doctor once or twice a week for two years.  You’ve had to give up your job to take care of her.  You’ve changed pediatricians four times, all the while terrified…remembering the brain cancer that took her father in 2006.  You’ve watched, helpless, as her vision deteriorated and you knew something was wrong, but no one believed you.  No one believed her because your little girl is stoic and strong…until she just can’t fight it anymore. 

In early January your little girl collapses and is rushed to the ER, where someone…finally…listens, and she is plunged into a surreal nightmare of blood tests, CAT scans, MRIs and, finally…brain surgery to remove the huge tumor in the center of her precious little head.  The pressure is removed from her optic nerves, her pituitary gland and her hypothalamus.  There is actually a chance she will see again and her little body is no longer dangerously dehydrated.  SUCCESS!!  …to a degree.  The surgeons can’t remove it all without catastrophic consequences.  Your little girl must now endure 4 months of chemotherapy, followed by 6 weeks of radiation, but first they must do a second spinal tap….this time to check whether the tumor cells escaped and are at risk of metastasizing to her spine.  Before that can occur, though, she needs emergency surgery to stop her brain bleed.

Through all this, your little girl has never complained.  Your little girl has remained upbeat, cheerful, stoic, and determined to beat this!   Even as her vision worsens again, until she can’t even recognize her closest friends, your little girl says nothing.  Your little girl…………..

                                               is Dawn.                                           


                  
OBJECTIVE:  Dawn’s Auntie Karin wants to ensure that, when Dawn is strong enough to travel, she can check Disney World off her very short bucket list.  More immediately, Dawn’s single, widowed mother is in need of a newer, reliable vehicle to transport the family safely to and from Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, approximately 7 hours round-trip from their California home.  Our hope is to raise sufficient funds to cover both those goals and some of the expenses that accumulate after two years of unemployment, hopefully with enough excess to cover some future expenses and contribute a portion to cancer research and treatment.

                       Please help us help THIS little girl!