Sweet Maya’s Treatment

On March 11th, 2022, my 8-year old (now 10 years old) sister Maya was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma. Ewing Sarcoma is cancer the most often occurs in and around the bones. Prior to her diagnosis, she was experiencing left side rib pain and was brought to Urgent Care on February 26th for a chest X-ray and CT scan which showed a 7x4 cm mass behind her left lung. Maya was admitted to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis that night and from there spent months receiving chemotherapy. Unfortunately the tumor was not responding to the chemotherapy treatment so the next step was to do radiation therapy treatment at MAYO in Rochester, MN. She received over 20 rounds of radiation therapy, but again the tumors were not responding and instead grew. From that point her care team decided she needed to have surgery to first detach the tumor from her spine and then to second remove the tumor entirely in July 2022. In the process of doing so, the surgeons placed 2 rods and 14 screws in her spine. She continued chemotherapy until February 2023. At that point she was considered cancer free with repeat scans every three months. Unfortunately her scan on November 27th, 2023, showed three new tumor spots. Our plan is to begin a new chemotherapy regimen the first week of December 2023. This includes getting a port placed again, multiple lab draws, multiple trips to the clinic/hospital, loss work time, and time away from family as a whole. We are unsure of what's to come at this time.

Our family is yet again devastated by this news and is praying for a successful outcome so Maya can be a normal kid again. She loves school, crafts, her family, friends, and dogs. We know not everyone can donate, but even a share or a prayer can go a long way for Maya and the Cerda family. Thank you so much.