Mom in desperate drive to save child

Who is Layla Card...Layla Card is a real little girl: she loves fairies and princesses, Barbie and pink, dressing up and make-up. In short, a real girly-girl, and an enchanting one at that.

4 year old Layla is the life of the family home in Fleurhof, Johannesburg, where she lives with her mom Zai, big brother Kevin (6) and grandfather Imam Ally. Like the icing and sprinkles on a cake, she is the
sweetness and prettiness of the family. She’s popular and boisterous among her peers – but, just like a little girl, she’s shy around strangers.

But at a time in her life when everything should be about unbridled innocence and the joy of life itself, Layla stares a deadly enemy in the face: brain cancer.

Layla has been diagnosed with brainstem glioma, a very rare and aggressive tumour that nearly always targets small children. Its position in her brainstem, and close proximity to vital nerves and blood vessels, means that she cannot undergo surgery and hope to survive. Nor will chemotherapy or radiation therapy have any chance of making a difference without causing catastrophic further damage to her.

Without effective treatment, and soon, Layla’s life will no longer lie stretched out before her; instead, it will be severely abbreviated.
However, Layla can be given a fighting chance at survival – with your help.

Her family desperately needs to raise R400 000 by the end of October 2012, so that Layla and her mother can fly to the Burzynski Cancer Research Institute and Clinic in Houston, US, which specialises in the treatment of brainstem glioma.

There, Layla will be able to undergo anti-neoplasm treatment, a non-invasive method of combating this tumour that is individualised to every patient. This treatment has been shown to work. But it is not available in South Africa and without it, Layla doesn’t have a hope.

So show love for Layla, and please help to raise the R400 000 in time. Every little bit really helps; and even if you’re not able to make a donation, you can help by simply telling your network. The more people know, the more goodwill, and the better Layla’s prospects at life.

http://www.iol.co.za/the-star/mom-in-desperate-drive-to-save-child-1.1407640