Over $9K Raised For Family Of 10-Year-Old Diagnosed With Cancer

PATCHOGUE-MEDFORD, NY — The Patchogue-Medford community came together to raise over $9,000 through an online fundraiser for a local 5th grader who developed a rare cancer. Marisol Reyes, a social worker at Bay Elementary School in Patchogue, started a GoFundMe page to help one of the students, Briana G., a "sweet and loving" 10-year-old.

According to Reyes, on May 23 Briana was taken to an urgent care after experiencing sudden abdominal pain. During the visit, her parents were told they needed to do more testing and to immediately take her to the local hospital. It was there that doctors found a 15-inch mass on Briana's left ovary and she had to undergo emergency surgery to remove it. After the surgery, she was discharged from the hospital and expected to make a speedy recovery.

However two weeks later at her post-op visit, the family received the results from pathology, which revealed that the mass was malignant and Briana was diagnosed with an unusual form of ovarian cancer for her age. That meant she was required to undergo six to eight months of chemotherapy.

"As you can imagine, receiving this news, especially during this current pandemic, was unexpected and difficult for our 5th grader and her parents to process," Reyes wrote on the page. "Mom and dad will now require to miss work to take Briana for her chemotherapy treatment."

As a result, Reyes started the fundraiser to help Briana's family ease the financial burden so that they can focus all their efforts on Briana's treatment, healing, and spending time together.

"Anyone who knows her parents can attest that they are incredibly giving when it comes to their time, love, and energy for anyone in need," she wrote.

The goal of the page was to raise $8,000 to help the family. As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe page has raised a total of $9,805 in a little over a month.

To read more or to donate, visit the GoFundMe page here.