Johannesburg - When a single mom in Joburg was told that her four-year-old daughter had an incurable brain tumour, she was shattered. Inconsolable, she cried solidly for two days.
Now, little more than a month after receiving the devastating news, Zai Card of Fleurhof is fuelled with hope, convinced that she has found a treatment that will save little Layla’s life.
And she’s on a mission to raise the R400 000 it will cost to take Layla to the Berzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas, where the girl can get the rare treatment that has reportedly already worked for four SA children diagnosed with the same illness.
“We’ve been fundraising like crazy, and after 10 days we’re almost on R100 000. So I can’t lose heart,” Card said.
Earlier this year, Layla was a bright, bouncy preschooler attending the Orban School in Melville with her brother Kevin, 6. Like other little girls, she was into all things pretty and pink, loved nail polish and adored her friends.
In July, Card grew worried when Layla started speaking differently, using baby talk. She put it down to normal behaviour, but her concern peaked when Layla vomited in the car on the way to school.
A doctor diagnosed her with sinusitus and put her on two courses of antibiotics, other medicine and nasal sprays. When the vomiting happened a few more times, Card didn’t know what to do.
Then, on September 18, Layla collapsed in the passage of the Fleurhof home they share with her father.
They rushed Layla to Olivedale Clinic, where she was admitted and put under the care of a paediatrician.
The next day, Layla had an MRI, and doctors spotted a large malignant tumour at the base of her brain, said to be inoperable.
“They told me Layla has brainstem glioma,” Card said, adding that the condition was extremely rare. She was told there was no known cure. Chemotherapy would not work, and radiation - the only other possibility - offered less than a 1 percent chance of a little more time.
“I cannot describe how I felt. My child is four - I cannot put her through radiation. I wondered, ‘How can you give me this, without giving me a way to fix it?’,” Card asked.
Two days later, she was sitting under a tree in the garden when she came across the story of Kristin Swarts, a four- year-old-child from Atlantis in the Western Cape, also diagnosed with brainstem glioma. Her mother Christina managed to raise funds - including even being given R50 000 by local taxi drivers.
The mother then resigned from her job, cashed in her pension and took little Kristin to the Berzynski Clinic a year ago for treatment. The child is now doing a great deal better.
Card contacted Swarts, and found out more about the clinic that specialises in the treatment of rare types of brain cancer. She found more success cases - four of them being small children from SA.
“I was so happy. Now I refuse to lose my child. I am not going to give up,” Card said.
The company she works for - Aon in Sandton - gave her 60 days of paid leave to be at home with Layla.
In the past few weeks, however, as the brain tumour has grown and started pressing on nerves, Layla’s speech has deteriorated. Her smile has become a little lopsided and she has developed a limp.
“We cannot book her in [to the Texas clinic] until we have paid,” the mother said.
Now she is organising a cake sale and an auction of some of Layla’s pictures, and the parents of children in Layla’s class have organised a fundraising dinner.
It’s a race against the clock. And Card is not slowing down to cry - it has been more than a week since she shed her last tears.
“A while ago Layla climbed into bed with me and I read her her favourite story a few times over. Then she wanted to play a game, so I asked her ‘What game?’. She looked me straight in the eye, pointed at me and said ‘You stop crying’. And so now I don’t cry any more, because it upsets her and she doesn’t like it.”
Anyone interested in the Love for Layla campaign can join the support page on Facebook or e-mail laylacard [email protected].
The Star