A SHORT UPDATE FOR OUR FUNDERS: WE ARE ALLOWED TO EXCEED THE GOAL. We have met our goal of $22,000 and are so grateful to all the funders who have contributed to Sophie's campaign. If you haven't yet contributed, but would like to, please do! 

 

** now back to your regularly scheduled short summary **

 

Hello! We are Kari Szukalski and Cheasty Anderson, friends of Jenna and Laith Vincent.

 

We are trying to help Jenna and Laith, whose two year old little girl Sophie was just diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor. She's beginning chemotherapy this week, but they have poor insurance coverage and a really tough road to walk ahead of them. (Sophie's prognosis is only a 30-50% survival rate past 5 years). Our hearts are breaking for them - for their daughter, who is the sweetest, sunniest, feistiest little girl you can imagine, for their son Lucas, who can't understand what's happening and is scared out of his mind, and for Jenna and Laith, who are struggling to hold it together as they face this enormous challenge. We look at how lucky we've been, at our healthy children and our happy families, and we are overwhelmed by how blessed we are, and how quickly that can change.

We're trying to raise $22,000, which is the bare minimum out-of-pocket medical costs they'll be dealing with over the next 6 months - just their deductible alone! In addition they have to pay for co-pays, co-insurance, therapies not covered by insurance, medications, commuting to and from their home in Charlottesville, time off of work for Laith, plus myriad other expenses.

During this holiday season when we try to focus on how many blessings we've been given, we hope some of you would consider either contributing whatever you can, (you can make a donation in honor of somebody as a Christmas gift, if that's something that would be meaningful to your loved ones), or posting this link to your Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, listservs, etc. Or just email this out to friends and family. The more we can publicize this campaign, the more likely we'll be able to raise an amount of money that would be meaningful to the Vincents in the coming difficult months. 

 

Thank you for your help!

Brief History of Sophie's Condition 

Sophie’s symptoms began early November with occasional facial asymmetry with laughing and crying. By Thanksgiving she was having difficulty with balance, and she began to hold her head sidebent to the right to correct for her double vision. A CT scan on November 30th initially revealed what was thought to be a tumor in the pons region of the brainstem, but a follow up MRI and biopsy came back with the official diagnosis of grade 4 medulloblastoma, which indicates that it’s malignant and aggressive. Kids under the age of 3 are considered infants and have a poorer prognosis than most kids with the same type of tumor-usually 30-50% survival after 5 years. On December 18^th she will have a port-a-cath surgically placed in one of her main veins, and she will begin chemotherapy treatment which is estimated to last 6 months. After that she will likely have a 2nd brain surgery to remove the remaining tumor (if possible) and targeted radiation or proton beam therapy. 

What We Need 

The Vincent's out of pocket expenses for insurance are $11,000 per calendar year, meaning they will incur $11,000 for treatments done during December of 2012. Then in January, the $11,000 begins all over again. In 2013 they are estimating many thousands more in expenses which includes unpaid time off from work for Laith, travel costs, therapies not covered by insurance, and the year's $11,000 out of pocket insurance expenses. Please contribute what you can. Even as little as $5 will help!

 

The Impact

Your donation, as well as whatever you can do to publicize this campaign, will do two things. One, it will help alleviate some of the Vincents' concerns about how they'll be able to financially manage Sophie's treatments. But equally importantly, your contribution will make a huge impact in how supported and loved they feel as they walk down this rocky road. They will know they are not alone, that hundreds of people around the country are not only rooting for them, but are actively helping to make a difference in their lives.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t contribute, that does not mean that you can’t help! We would love for this campaign to go viral. The more people that see this, the more likely we will be able to meet our fundraising goal. So please, whether you can or cannot donate, please spread the word about the campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Tumblr, email, blog pages etcetera.

 

You can follow updates about Sophie’s treatment and progress at: http://familiavincent.wordpress.com/