Hi, I’m Alberto from the United States. I launched this campaign to support my dear friend Aya and her family as they bravely try to save her mother, Abeer, who is battling cancer. This war has been extremely difficult knowing that Aya and her family are living in such perilous conditions and all I can do is check on her in the morning to see if she survived another night. Through out this whole time I’ve become deeply connected to her and her family.

The following is a message from Aya:

I write to you as I watch my mother fight cancer far away from us, while we, her children, struggle to survive in Gaza. All we have left is your kindness — perhaps it can bring healing to my mother and safety back to our family.

My story :)

I’m Aya, a 19-year-old girl from Gaza. I once had a simple dream — to study medicine and become a doctor. But the war destroyed my education, postponed my dream, and forced me to face hardships far beyond my age.

My family consists of ten members: my parents, my brothers Mohammed, Yousef, and Obada, my sisters Iman and Mira, my brother’s wife, and my grandmother. Before the war, we lived a simple and stable life filled with love. My mother, Abeer, was a respected teacher, and my father was a police officer who owned a supermarket. We lived with dignity.

Then the war came.

Everything changed. My mother lost her job, and in September 2024, we received devastating news — she had been diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. Our world collapsed. Thanks to kind donors, my mother was able to leave Gaza in late February 2025 and travel to Egypt to begin treatment, accompanied by my father, my sister Mira, and my brother Yousef.

Although she is now safe from the war, her battle is far from over. She is just beginning radiation therapy, and will soon start the next stages of treatment. But she is currently living in extremely difficult conditions. She sleeps on a hospital bed, because we cannot afford a place for her to stay.

She urgently needs help with:

Monthly rent for a small apartment so she can leave the hospital.

Basic living expenses and care during her treatment in Egypt.

Support for us, her children, who remain in Gaza under siege.

I, along with my sister Iman, my brother Mohammed, my brother Obada and his wife, am still in Gaza — struggling every day. Life here has become incredibly expensive. Due to the war and blockade, food, medicine, and daily essentials are hard to find and overpriced. Our family has lost everything.

My father was also badly injured during the war, nearly losing his hand. This injury shattered our financial stability. He continues to suffer physically and emotionally.

Today, we survive on hope. But hope alone is not enough.

I am Aya, writing to you from the heart of this tragedy, asking for your help — to support my mother’s treatment in Egypt, and to help me and my siblings survive in Gaza, until we can rebuild what the war destroyed.

Your support is our last hope. Every donation — no matter how big or small — makes a difference. You are not just giving money. You are giving life. You are helping hold together a family that refuses to give up.