Two-Year-Old Is Slowly Suffocating From Her Tongue, And Her Family Cannot Afford Treatments

#1

Zyrille is from Manilla in the Philippines. The two-year-old suffers from lymphangioma which is a collection of life-threatening cysts on her tongue. She is currently being kept alive through the use of a breathing tube and is undergoing chemotherapy that is funded by the government. Her parents have been told that if they are able to get the tumor to shrink in size, they will have to come up with the money needed for an operation.

What makes us the saddest about this story is that if she lived in the Western world, she would not be suffering right now. Since she lives in an undeveloped country, she could go her entire life without proper treatment.

#2

Mary Cruz, her mother, says that "Zhyrille is the light in our hearts. We don’t know what the future holds, but we will make this the best Christmas for her." She says that Zhyrille is the best gift that they could have ever asked for. Her laughter makes everyone around her smile. She prays that she will have a chance to grow up to be a bright, beautiful young lady. "I wish for nothing but to see a smile on her lovely face every single second. I want to see her grow up and achieve her goals. That is our dream."

#3

Zhyrille's whole ordeal started when she was born and her parents noticed her mouth was swollen. Doctors originally told her parents that they had nothing to worry about, but she was later diagnosed with lymphangioma.

Her parents were left completely powerless to stop the mass as it slowly got bigger. The little girl is left with an enormous tongue that hinders her from breathing properly.

#4

Zhyrille's parents live with family and the father only earns around $150 a month from his job as a contractor. Only recently did a local charity help the little girl get some medical attention. Her family was even able to collect three months worth of chemotherapy medications. They are currently waiting for tests to let them know if the chemo is working.

#5

Doctors, then, can decide whether she can undergo surgery. Mrs. Cruz said: "We will do what we can. We work and we save as much as possible for our daughter. We pray that the medicine will work and she can have an operation." Zhyrille currently takes medicine twice a day. Each tablet costs 300 pesos which is $6 in US currency.

#6

The family currently does not know how they will get the next batch of medicine that Zhyrille needs. It will cost them more than 50,000 pesos ($1,000 US) for oral chemo meds. The doctors also have not told the family how much the surgery might cost since Zhyrille is still under observation. They do not know whether she can have the surgery or not, but the family expects it will be way more than they would be able to come up with.

Let's just keep Zhyrille and her family in our thoughts and prayers.