Sofia's battle against bone cancer
Donation protected
This is the story of our beautiful daughter Sofia Herrera Guerra. Sofia is 9 years old and she is a very energetic and active girl who loves dancing, riding her bicycle, playing with her friends and having “sister’s nights with her big sister Daniela (they spend most Friday and Saturday nights watching movies or drawing).
Our lives and especially Sofia’s life took an unexpected turn three months ago when during a routine x-ray of her legs (Sofia had been complaining about sore knees) our doctor found a “mass” on her right leg just above the knee (distal femur). At that moment the doctor was not sure whether this mass was a bone infection or something far more serious.
After lots of examinations including MRI, CT Scan, PET Scan and an open biopsy the doctors confirmed our worst nightmare: the mass on Sofia’s leg was a malignant tumor. March 5th 2019 is the day we will never forget. Our beautiful Sofia had been diagnosed with high grade Osteosarcoma (Bone Cancer).
Though rare, Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer. It tends to occur in teenagers and young adults, but it can also occur in young children like our Sofia.
Sofia started chemotherapy straight away after the diagnosis. So far, she has completed four rounds and she is battling the nasty side effects of the treatment. For the last three months we have been in and out hospital so many times that I lost count.
As part of the cancer treatment, Sofia will undergo a life-changing surgery aimed to remove the tumor. Due to the size of the tumor, doctors will need to remove the entire knee. This surgery, although necessary to save Sofia’s life, is going to change the life of our daughter forever.
After surgery (scheduled for early July) Sofia is facing at least 6 months of additional chemotherapy and a long and extremely hard rehabilitation process that without a doubt will have an enormous impact on her not only physically but also emotionally.
Throughout this journey Sofia has been incredibly strong and despite the nasty side effects of the chemotherapy she keeps smiling and having hope that one day she is going to be ok again and she’s going back to school and to do all those things that she likes to do (even homework).
We are completely overwhelmed by the support that we have received from our family, friends, church and the community in general. Sofia’s bedroom is “inundated” with gifts from her friends and our family has been blessed with the generosity of a lot of people that through little things (such as keeping Sofia and our family in their prayers, cooking meals for us or by helping us with picking our daughter Daniela from school) have demonstrated their unconditional support. For all that we are enormously grateful.
My wife and I were a bit hesitant to create this Go Fund Me page as we are not used to asking people for help or support (not because we did not need it but because we did not want to bother people) but after the encouragement from family and friends who wanted to help us in a more tangible way, we have decided it to do it. These donations will assist us not only with most of the everyday expenses related to Sofia’s treatment (full-time care, ongoing medical expenses, constant travel costs between home and hospital, cost of parking and meals at hospital) but also with future expenses that Sofia will require during her rehabilitation (wheelchair, prosthetic leg, home modifications etc).
For those of you who want to help Sofia and our family during these hard times please know that any donation no matter how big or small, will be genuinely and highly appreciated and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks again for your support and please share our story.
God Bless,
Daniel, Gina, Daniela & Sofia
Our lives and especially Sofia’s life took an unexpected turn three months ago when during a routine x-ray of her legs (Sofia had been complaining about sore knees) our doctor found a “mass” on her right leg just above the knee (distal femur). At that moment the doctor was not sure whether this mass was a bone infection or something far more serious.
After lots of examinations including MRI, CT Scan, PET Scan and an open biopsy the doctors confirmed our worst nightmare: the mass on Sofia’s leg was a malignant tumor. March 5th 2019 is the day we will never forget. Our beautiful Sofia had been diagnosed with high grade Osteosarcoma (Bone Cancer).
Though rare, Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer. It tends to occur in teenagers and young adults, but it can also occur in young children like our Sofia.
Sofia started chemotherapy straight away after the diagnosis. So far, she has completed four rounds and she is battling the nasty side effects of the treatment. For the last three months we have been in and out hospital so many times that I lost count.
As part of the cancer treatment, Sofia will undergo a life-changing surgery aimed to remove the tumor. Due to the size of the tumor, doctors will need to remove the entire knee. This surgery, although necessary to save Sofia’s life, is going to change the life of our daughter forever.
After surgery (scheduled for early July) Sofia is facing at least 6 months of additional chemotherapy and a long and extremely hard rehabilitation process that without a doubt will have an enormous impact on her not only physically but also emotionally.
Throughout this journey Sofia has been incredibly strong and despite the nasty side effects of the chemotherapy she keeps smiling and having hope that one day she is going to be ok again and she’s going back to school and to do all those things that she likes to do (even homework).
We are completely overwhelmed by the support that we have received from our family, friends, church and the community in general. Sofia’s bedroom is “inundated” with gifts from her friends and our family has been blessed with the generosity of a lot of people that through little things (such as keeping Sofia and our family in their prayers, cooking meals for us or by helping us with picking our daughter Daniela from school) have demonstrated their unconditional support. For all that we are enormously grateful.
My wife and I were a bit hesitant to create this Go Fund Me page as we are not used to asking people for help or support (not because we did not need it but because we did not want to bother people) but after the encouragement from family and friends who wanted to help us in a more tangible way, we have decided it to do it. These donations will assist us not only with most of the everyday expenses related to Sofia’s treatment (full-time care, ongoing medical expenses, constant travel costs between home and hospital, cost of parking and meals at hospital) but also with future expenses that Sofia will require during her rehabilitation (wheelchair, prosthetic leg, home modifications etc).
For those of you who want to help Sofia and our family during these hard times please know that any donation no matter how big or small, will be genuinely and highly appreciated and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks again for your support and please share our story.
God Bless,
Daniel, Gina, Daniela & Sofia
Organizer
Daniel Herrera
Organizer
Carole Park QLD
