Meet UVSC Hero, Eva’Marih. Her mother, Jean, shared her story below:
Eva’Marih is seven years old and is in the first grand. She was an only child for 6 years before becoming a big sister. She would constantly ask me for a baby sister since she learned to talk. Her prayers (as she claims) had finally been answered last year when I learned that we were expecting a baby girl. We celebrated and were so excited to finally give her her “dream come true” (her exact words referring to her baby sister), when suddenly, a few weeks before baby was born, our whole world flipped, She had been having headaches on the last month of school and was constantly sent home because she wasn’t feeling well. We took her to the ER a few times and each time the results were a different diagnosis (strep B and hand foot mouth disease).
Finally with all her symptoms, she was finally ordered a CT scan and they found a tumor, called pineoblastoma, in her brain.
She was immediately in the surgery room within minutes and admitted into the PICU. She went through 3 invasive surgeries in her brain to remove the tumor, radiation therapy, and is now going through chemotherapy
Despite everything she was going through, she was still very worried about me and the baby. I would be crying behind the curtains and she would call out and check on how the baby is doing and express how excited she was. She went through so much in the span of a month, yet she persevered and remained positive. When the baby was finally born, she became stronger and it seems like she remains strong because she wants her sister to look up to her.
She’s such a sweet, considerate, little girl and always tries her best. She loves to pass time by doing arts and crafts and “vlogging” her art work. Eva’Marih is now undergoing chemotherapy and still remains positive.
We’re very thankful for all the generous and kind people at UVSC, who have helped our family and lifted some burdens off our shoulders while we focus on her recovery and health.
