Marisa, who is only 12 years old and diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, tells us about her wonderful experience living her dream visiting for the first time the beach.
Stories
LIVING IN A DREAM: MARISA
Hi! My name is Marisa and I am 12 years old. When I was nine years old, I was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. The first symptoms I started having were fevers, almost daily, and without a reason. Also, small red dots appeared in my eyes which became the first main symptom I developed, and made me realize that something was wrong. Because of that, my mom decided to take me to a clinic; And they took some blood samples that gave low results for platelets, hemoglobin, among others. Then, I was moved to another clinic where I had a bone marrow aspiration procedure done. It took its toll on me and was very painful. .
After that, doctor had me get biopsies because I started getting red or purple spots on my body. It was then that I was diagnosed with cancer. I was treated with chemotherapy, which was very exhausting, but it helped to stop the cancer from spreading. Months later, I was a candidate for a Bone Marrow Transplant. Guess what? My Dad was the doner, and the surgery was successful. Since the day of the surgery I haven't had any symptoms or any signs of cancer, although I do have to visit the doctor frequently to keep everything in check.
Her mother’s words:
Little Melissa started her fight against cancer when she was barely 9 years old, and she
achieved what nobody thought she could: beat it. When we talked to her, she
demonstrated that she is a very brave, dedicated and empathetic girl. When she talks
about her triumph against cancer she says passionately: “God said ‘yes’ to my life and I
am going to live it joyfully”. Her biggest dream was going to the beach, and when we
told her that we could make her dream come true she was very excited; although she
said that she didn’t mind if other kids went in her place as she knew exactly what they
were going through. In February 2020, her dream came true with the program Dream
Beach. She had always wanted to visit the beach and play in the sand which was the first thing she did when we arrived. She loved the beach so much that she even asked if we could stay and live there.