Donny needs Chemotherapy, please help us.

Hi, My name is Donny.

I just celebrated my bar mitzvah, making me 13 human years old. But don't let my age fool you, I still take the stairs two at a time, and can still run and play with the best of them.

I was rescued at 6 months old by my first mom, Sam. She always says that I saved her life. She was really sad when we first met. But I always try to tell her that we really saved each other.

I give amazing soul healing hugs. If you want one, just let me know!

My favorite foods are eggs and any fruit you can think of (except bananas! Yuck!). My nose is sharp, so don't peel an orange or kiwi around me if you don't feel like sharing!

It’s my job to sniff and inspect any bag or package that comes into our home to make sure it's safe.

I love to talk, and have long conversations with my moms, especially when I am trying to convince them they should give me a treat or take my laser toy out.

I am super intelligent and understand a lot of words in English and Spanish, and love brain teaser games.

I also love adventures! I have swam in the ocean, a pool, and a river. I have been on statewide road trips, flown across the country, vacationed overnight on a sailboat, hiked mountains, kayaked, skateboarded, surfed, dug on the beach and played in the snow.

I have always been super healthy. My moms keep me on lots of vitamins and nutritious foods, and take really good care of me. Then this year I have had just one health issue after another.

First, we were worried about my heart, but my moms got some important stuff done to help me get back on track. Then, we found out I have a partially collapsed trachea, but I have never let that stop me, and my moms do a great job at helping me manage that too! Then, I got a pretty bad dental disease. So my moms worked really hard to save up a whole lot of money to get all of my teeth removed, and get some bone grafting done on my jaw. I healed so well from that and was feeling back and better than ever!!

Then, right when we thought I was finally back to my super healthy self, my Lymphnodes started to swell up out of nowhere. First, my doctors thought it was an infection. So my moms gave me antibiotics twice a day for a whole month trying to make it go away. I really didn't like that medicine, but they were good at mixing it with yummy things to make it easier to take. Then after all that, my Lymphnodes just kept swelling bigger. Which has been making my tracheal cough worse too.

That's when we had a whole bunch of Doctor visits back to back, and I was pretty scared. Now, my moms told me I have Lymphoma. A type of cancer. I can see how sad, stressed, and scared they are when they talk about how they will afford to help me get through this new sickness, when they still have so much debt from all the other stuff I just went through. But I always give them kisses and hugs to help them calm down, and always remind them that everything will be okay.

I hate seeing my mom’s Mari and Sam sad, they are my best friends… It’s always been my job to make them happy, and their job to take care of me. But, this time I don't know if we can do it all by ourselves.


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We are currently fighting for a spot on a list to get Donny started on Chemotherapy treatment. We have already added $8000 to our existing debt (from our student loans and medical bills) from his medical treatments within the last year, and then this hit us out of nowhere. We have no accounts left to tap into, but not trying to save our boy just isn't an option for us, when he has saved us every day. We are currently estimating it will be at least $500 per chemo treatment and he is going to need multiple treatments a month if not weekly, and that is not including other testing that will need to be done. It is truly hard for us to reach out and ask for help with this. We just don't know what else to do. Anything you can give will be helpful to us improving this good boy's overall quality of life.

Thank you so much for taking the time to hear our story.

Love,
Sam, Mari, and Donny