Sarai's fight against Cancer

Hi, my name is Tiara Conn, I am Sarai’s mommy; Malosi Laasaga is her daddy, and we are seeking help during this time for our daughter's fight against cancer.

I have been holding off on this post for as long as possible hoping and praying that someway or somehow things would resolve itself. But at this time Losi and I have decided that we are finally ready to reach out to our family, friends, and the community for all of your prayers, love, and support. In early January Losi and I took Sarai (our 13-month-old) to her pediatrician with concerns about her tummy. During that appointment, we learned that Sarai had an enlarged spleen. Further testing on the cause of Sarai’s enlarged spleen later led us to the discovery of Sarai’s underlying condition. Our baby has been recently diagnosed with Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), a rare type of blood cancer diagnosed to about 120 children in the US each year. In this past month, Sarai has undergone a bone marrow aspirate procedure (to test and understand the cause of her blood cancer), inserted a PIC line into a major blood vessel leading to her heart allowing the doctors to closely monitor her blood counts, been hospitalized on several occasions, received two blood transfusions, and developed a skin condition called sweet syndrome due to her blood condition. At this moment we are currently preparing baby Sarai for chemotherapy treatment while we await further tests to determine whether she will need a stem cell transplant in the future. As many of my family and friends know, I am usually a rather private person but I’m reaching out to everyone to please help our baby whether it may be through prayers, sharing our Facebook post, or donating to her GoFundMe. There are no words to explain how Losi and I are feeling but in short, we are living a parent’s worst nightmare.