Hope For Neymar
To our Beautiful Friends, Family and all who is reading,
It all started the night of January 25th, 2017 when Neymar was getting ready for bed. His parents noticed Neymar's left eye was looking a little lazy and his head was tilting slightly to the left side. His father's initial thought wast hat he had been jumping all afternoon on the trampoline and maybe he had just sprained his neck but Neymar wasnt complaining about pain. The following morning his Mother noticed that not only that his symptoms were still present but that Neymar was starting to have a little trouble walking.
His mother called Neymars primary care doctor and set up an appointment. During Neymars appointment the doctor preformed various neorological tests on Neymar and immediatly called for an ambulance so that he could be rushed to the hospital. They arrived at OHSU/Doernbecher's Children's Hospital in Portland Oregon where he also preformed several tests. the next step was having a CT scan. when we got the results of the CT scan the doctor told all of us that the scan had came back clear (a sigh of relief filled the room) but that she wanted to send in some blood into the labs to get it tested so Neymar toughened up and gave up some blood. while we were waiting to get results back from the lab (about 30min after) the doctor came back in and said that the neorology team called back and said that in fact they were seeing something in the CT scan. Neymar had a mass growing in his brain stem. when the doctors broke the news they said they werent sure what kind of mass it was nor the strength of it so they went ahead and oredered a sedeted MRI to be prefomed the following morning. The doctors decided it would be best if they kept Neymar over night to monitor him.
the MRI started at 9:30am so we waited... and waited. finally at about 11:30am we got him back in the room so we waited for results. A social worker then came into the room and brought in a bag full of new toys and coffee cards for the adults. at this point i looked at my sister and we both knew there was something wrong. (they were being too nice).
At about 2:30pm two oncology specialists and Neymar's nurse came into the room. They asked to speak with the parents and anyone else who wanted to be there. they sat us down in a conference room and told us all that Neymar indeed had a tumor growing in his brainstem. our bodies went numb. the doctor called it Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) and said that there wasnt anything that they could do to cure him. he said there wasnt a doctor around the world that could cure him. so we asked for options and our only two options were radiation; but that radiation would only slow the growth of the tumor down, it wouldnt cure it. putting Neymar through Radiation would mean having him go through pain for weeks straight. Or no treatment, which would mean we make the best out of the time we have left with him. His parents chose No Treatment, they want to make sure Neymar has the Happiest life any little boy could ask for. Neymar is a sweet boy with a heart of gold. He loves to play Pokémon, play with his cousins but most of all he loves to play soccer. Neymar's favorite soccer team is Real Madrid. Some of his favorite players are Christiano Ronaldo, Tony Kroos and James Rodriguez. His biggest dream is to watch a Real Madrid game and so we're hoping that with this campaign we would be able to make his dream come true. so here i am, sharing his story with all of you in hopes of you donating or even just taking the time to share his story with your family and friends. we would also like to ask of you that follow god to pray for our little guy. all religions and all faiths please help us pray for a miracle.
God Bless- The Lara Family
Neymars story was told by his aunt Araceli Acosta
***A little bit about DIPG*
*It attacks children ages 4-11
* there is no cure for DIPG
* chance of survival is less than 1%
*200-400 children are diagnosed each year in the US.
*As a DIPG tumor begins to grow, it puts pressure on the nerves that control the essential bodily functions regulated by the pons. Children with DIPG commonly experience double vision, reduced eye movement, facial weakness or asymmetry, and arm and leg weakness. They also have problems with walking, coordination, speech, chewing, and swallowing. As the tumor progresses, it also interferes with breathing and heartbeat, which ultimately results in the child’s death.
