Main fundraiser photo

Please help Jazmyn get to Hawaii

Donation protected
Many of you may remember Jazmyn’s story that was told here and in a newspaper article a few years ago.  She has a very rare genetic disorder that allows mistakes to happen in her DNA and her body can’t fix them which lets tumors develop and grow. She’s 17 now and will turn 18 at the end of July. In the last two years since this account has been updated, she’s had two more brain tumors resected and was getting bi-weekly immunotherapy infusions in Portland for tumors on her liver. She started having seizures last December two days before Christmas so we spent the holiday in the hospital. A week after going home, she developed autoimmune hepatitis from a new immunotherapy medication and spent another week in the hospital. During this time, a second seizure medication was started as her seizures were not controlled on just one.  In April, she had a life-threatening reaction to the seizure medication and spent another week in Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. Her routine surveillance brain MRI in April revealed a very fast-growing tumor. She agreed to have surgery to remove some of it as long as her surgeon could be confident that she wouldn’t have long-term deficits. 
Jazmyn is a very smart, sweet, loving, witty and funny girl. Without her humor and sarcasm, she probably wouldn’t have made it this far. She’s been through more surgeries and procedures and battled her way back from more illnesses than any one person should ever have to. She’s done it without complaining. She’s fought a very hard battle. She doesn’t want to just be known as the girl with cancer. She wants to be seen as the beautiful, talented and intelligent young woman she is! If you haven’t already seen the vlog she was doing for Camp Millennium, a camp for kids dealing with cancer, you should look at their Facebook page or you may still find it on YouTube. It’s called “Tuesdays with Dream”. She displays her amazing personality and talent!
As I write this update (I’m her mom), she lays in a bed in the PICU at Doernbecher after 6 hours in surgery to remove a part of her recent brain tumor. The tumor is in dangerous parts of her brain that if touched by surgery or radiation, would leave her with major deficits and she doesn’t want to live like that. She wants to live being able to be herself. As her mom, I would gladly take care of her for as long as possible no matter what the deficits were, but I also love her unselfishly and unconditionally so I respect her wants and wishes and will support her in any decisions she makes. She knew before this surgery that it wasn’t a surgery to cure, but rather to buy her a little more time. Her surgeon said this was her last brain surgery. The tumor is out of control and growing fast. 
Jazmyn has always wanted to take a family vacation somewhere beautiful and warm. She would love to go to Hawaii. Her younger sister who is 11, 12 at the end of May, has never been on an airplane and Jazmyn would love to share this experience with her. Jazmyn wants to enjoy life without hospitals - even if for just a week. I am reaching out to the amazing people who helped make her 16th birthday amazing and asking for help in giving her this dream. She deserves to be happy for a little while. 
Thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about the most amazing person I’ve ever known. I’m so very proud to be her mom!!

Organiser

Heather Rice
Organiser
Tri-City, OR

Your easy, powerful and trusted home for help

  • Easy

    Donate quickly and easily.

  • Powerful

    Send help straight to the people and causes you care about.

  • Trusted

    Your donation is protected by the  GoFundMe Giving Guarantee.