Community Corner
Port Washington Natives' Infant Daughter Needs Help
Young couple native to Port Washington is trying to raise funds for an expensive brain surgery to save their daughter's life.
Maya, the infant daughter and first-born child of Port Washington natives Diego and Erika Contreras was born back in June 2015 with a very serious and rare neurological condition called Hemimegalencephaly, a form of epilepsy. This causes little Maya to experience catastrophic seizures that in time would severely debilitate Maya’s cognition and could even lead to death. Maya has been prescribed a number of medications to help surpress the seizures, but the treatment proves inadequate as the new-born continues to suffer from countless seizures daily. With the help of neurologists and neurosurgeons from various parts of the country, it has been determined that Maya will need to undergo a hemispherectomy (the removal/disabling of the “bad” half of the brain causing the seizures) in order for her to live a productive and fulfilling life.
The couple has turned to GOFUNDME, a personal fund-raising website, to ask for donations towards the very expensive procedure. “Mighty Maya,” the name of their campaign, has already raised almost $15,000 in just 3 days from friends and family around Long Island and their new home in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The couple is still far from their goal of $150,000 that they will need for travel, surgery and the subsequent therapy which will help Maya obtain the normal childhood that she deserves.
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Maya’s family urges readers of this bulletin to visit the Mighty Maya campaign website at http://www.gofundme.com/mightymaya to help Maya obtain the surgery she needs. Donations have spanned between $5 - $2000, and all donations, no matter the size, have been greatly appreciated, as every little bit counts. Donors can also share the campaign on their Facebook and Twitter page by clicking the share/tweet button on the campaign website. The more Maya’s story has been shared, the better chance Diego and Erika have at meeting their goal.
