Fighting for Ava

Ava is a one year old twin that was born at 32 weeks gestation and spent the first 12 days of her life in the sterile walls of a NICU. Due to their prematurity they see several doctors, several times a year to make sure they are both developing the way that they should. On Monday, March 6, 2017 our world was flipped completely upside down during a routine eye exam where we learned that Ava has a tumor on her right eye called Retinoblastoma - otherwise known as cancer behind the eye. Retinoblastoma is extremely rare and only effects 1 in 20,000. The doctors from Virginia Pediatric Ophthalmology Specialists called right away to the University of Virginia Children's Hospital to get her under general anesthesia to exam her eye better. After the exam, we learned that the tumor is medium sized and they are confident that with chemotherapy they can shrink the size and be able to laser it without having to take her eye or it effect her vision. The plan right now is to do chemotherapy once a month, for six months and during that time she will be hospitalized for two days. As you can imagine this is going to get expensive and we do not know what insurance is going to cover and what they will not. Any donations made will go towards gas, food, hotels, and keeping Ava as comfortable as possible while she goes through chemotherapy. Any money left over will be donated to UVA Children's Hospital in Ava's name. You do not have to donate, but please keep this sweet girl in your thoughts and pray that her little body responds well to chemo.