Maya loves to smile, create, and to imagine. She loves art, animals & nature, music, the color purple, Girl Scouts, and gymnastics! Hanging out with her family, her two cats and her friends mean the world to her! She has proclaimed she will be an artist when she grows up!
Maya's Cancer Story: The Beginning -July 6th, 2016 was a bad day, or as Maya put it "the worst day ever!" It was the day we sadly found out Maya had a large tumor and cancer of the Kidney. Maya was diagnosed 1 month before her 7th birthday. She surgically had the removal of her left kidney & tumor scheduled one day following initial diagnosis. Cancer treatments such as radiation and chemo followed two weeks after the healing from surgery. The intensive chemotherapy treatments continued for approx. 10 months along with hospital stays, many life saving blood/plasma transfusions, as well as a feeding tube placement for nourishment. There were several months of recovery along with a port removal surgery following the end of chemotherapy treatment.
Nephroblastoma or also called a Wilms Tumor, is a rare diagnosis, but the most commonly diagnosed type of childhood kidney cancer. The American Cancer Society Reports Each year, about 500 new cases of Wilms tumors (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/wilms-tumor/about/what-is-wilms-tumor.html) are diagnosed in the United States. This number has been fairly stable for many years. About 5% of all cancers in children are Wilms tumors. Wilms tumors tend to occur in young children. The average age at diagnosis is about 3 to 4 years. It becomes less common as children grow older and is uncommon after age 6. It’s very rare in adults, although cases have been reported.
Understandably, this has been an extremely difficult road to travel. We tried to help Maya fight with a positive attitude through the pain and isolation, while always keeping her surrounded by love, family and a supportive circle of friends. She is a warrior! As of July 2017, she has no evidence of disease and grows stronger every day. We have hope, we have faith, we have love!
Thank you for supporting her and the more than 300,000 kids worldwide who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. By sharing the gifts of your time, talent and money with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, you're supporting research to give all kids with cancer a better chance for a cure.
