Hello, my name is Luna D.

My story began on November 28, 2022 when my parents noticed a white light in my left eye. We immediately ran to the pediatrician and the pediatrician told us that it could be cataracts, but he also told us that it could be a tumor (my parents’ world turned upside down), and he immediately referred us to a specialist.

Immediately my parents made the appointment. They gave us an appointment for the next day, and again the specialist told us that he did not treat that type of case. Immediately he began to tell his assistant to make an emergency appointment for us with another specialist who will treat tumors. My parents started crying non-stop, (we felt like everything we were going through was a dream.) We returned home very sad! (we couldn’t believe what what’s happening). My parents decided not to wait for the appointment with the specialist and immediately made the decision to take me to the eye institute Bascom Palmer emergency room. We were there all morning and night and the doctor did several exams and immediately told us that unfortunately it was a cancerous tumor retinoblastoma, a very aggressive tumor (cancer). Therefore we could not leave the emergency room, and they called the ambulance right away to take us to the hospital. They could do an MRI of the brain to see if the tumor had not spread to the brain. Everything was a trauma for my parents. We couldn't believe that was happening to us. Thank God the tumor had not spread to my brain, so they sent us home.

Three days later they called us for another appointment to see the specialist. She later told us that they have to do an emergency surgery to remove the eye so that they could save my life. My parents then decided to go see another specialist to get a second opinion. The specialist told us that unfortunately the tumor was already advancing and it was covering the whole eye already. But he gave us two options to have the eye removed after 3 rounds of chemotherapy or to finish all 9 sections of chemotherapy and laser on the tumor, so that the tumor would shrink and then see if f we were able to save the eye. But the chance of saving the eye was only 20% so my parents decided to go for the second option because my parents had faith that a miracle could happen. And yes a miracle happened. The tumor shrunk a lot and I didn’t have any complications with the chemotherapy.

Since the tumor was very advanced and it began to break and bleed inside and that did not allow the laser to kill the tumor and unfortunately new tumors began to grow rapidly. Unfortunately, the doctor had to make the decision to operate and remove the eye, after 9 treatments and 11 lasers, we couldn’t save my eye (but they saved my life!), since it was putting my life at risk.

I know that God has big plans for me and my family, and yes, I lost my eye but God was always with me and my parents. And all I can say is that God loves me so much that he didn’t let the tumors spread in my brain and he gave me a second chance of life and I’m here today with my family. I am a warrior of God and I know I will be an inspiration for others.

And for those who are battling cancer, all I can said is that God never leaves you alone and that if we have a lot of faith and we trust in God any miracle can happen. So keep trusting. He gave us so much strength. And also we would like to give thanks to all the foundations that supports us financially, without all the foundations help my parents wouldn’t make it through.