When you first meet Yan, you are greeted with the great ball of energy you’d expect from most healthy 7-year-old boys. If it weren’t for the scars on his head from multiple brain surgeries, you would never guess that at just 6 months old he was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of brain cancer (Choroid Plexus Carcinoma) that nearly took his life. His cancer is so rare, in fact, that just 1 out of two million kids are diagnosed with it.

After his first doctor removed the tumor, the outlook was not good: he was put on Hospice just days afterwards and only given weeks to live. But like Yan and his family do, they never gave up hope and went looking for solutions. That hope led them to a doctor in the northeast who specializes in a condition similar to Yan’s and they immediately packed up and left Florida.

The relocation forced Yan’s mother to leave her job behind and Yan’s constant need for supervision prevents her from being able to work a steady job.  The increased expenses and decreased income has resulted in Yan and his family living in various shelters where they have been staying the last few years. Throwing a new curve-ball into the mix, his treatments have now included regular road trips to Cleveland to see a specialist there.

Despite all these challenges, Yan’s mother remains as upbeat and hopeful as ever. She is full of life and radiates a contagiously positive energy and so too does Yan.

Our team is providing Yan’s family with a little relief. During our visit, we informed Yan’s mom that we will be covering their travel expenses (gas, tolls, parking) as well as food and lodging during Yan’s hospital stays for the next month. She beamed with gratitude and simply said, “You have no idea how much this means to our family! Thank you so much and to everybody who’s a part of E2C who made this happen for us.”