California for Lenka

2/11/2023 update:

Today was a huge day for Lenka! The main fundraiser (otwiera nową kartę) is scheduled to run for another couple of weeks, but we have already reached 100% of the goal today, way ahead of the deadline! The California for Lenka team donated 9% of those funds and therefore played a crucial role in this incredible achievement. Whether you donated, shared the fundraiser or simply rooted for Lenka, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

The original fundraiser amount was based on the estimated cost of bare-bones treatment only. In reality this cost is likely going to be much higher, so this fundraising effort is far from over. The California for Lenka money box (otwiera nową kartę) is going to remain open as planned, until March 1, 2023, and any additional donations towards Lenka’s treatment are going to be greatly appreciated. Just wanted to share with you all this magnificent milestone and thank you for your incredible support thus far! Go team California for Lenka! Together we can save Lenka!

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Lenka was barely 3 months old when she started spitting up and at the same time the circumference of her head increased. The pediatrician said there was nothing to worry about, but as a mother I knew something was wrong. I asked for a second opinion. An ultrasound confirmed our worst fear, Lenka had a brain tumor. The tumor in Lenka’s head is a grade 3 anaplastic ependymoma. Once we stop chemotherapy the tumor will grow back very fast.

We ended up at a hospital in Katowice, where the doctors tried to excise the tumor for the first time. The moments I spent behind the closed doors of the operating room were unbearable! I knew that this was only the beginning of our fight for my daughter’s life. I just wanted to hug her, to have her by my side.

Ever since Lenka fell ill a year and a half ago, pediatric oncology has been our home. It is a place where hope is mixed with desperation, where tears and tightly clenched fists are a norm. In this hospital ward children die and are reborn again. It is here where parents pray and silently cry into a pillow.

We have been fighting this nightmarish battle for over a year. Lena has had 17 cycles of chemotherapy, 3 head surgeries and we have not won yet. The remnants of the tumor are still in Lenka’s head and it is only a matter of time until the tumor will grow back and will threaten my 20-month-old daughter’s life again.

Unfortunately, we have ran out of treatment options here in Poland. Our only hope is proton therapy in Germany, but the cost of such treatment is astronomical, definitely out of our reach. We have been in touch with the hospital in Essen for a while now. They already have Lenka’s full medical history, based on which our daughter was pre-approved for the treatment there. In Poland, 2-year-olds are not candidates for such treatment. At this time this is our only chance to save our daughter’s live.

Lenka’s older sister is awaiting her at home and she also needs us. If we leave the pediatric oncology ward and don’t go to Germany, we’ll have to come back here again. Proton therapy is our biggest hope and realistically the only chance to save Lenka’s life.

As a mother who’s been fighting for her child’s life for the last year I implore you. Please donate to our fundraiser, so her precious life can be saved. Thank you!