21st Century C.A.R.E. - A Foundation for Cancer Assistance, Research & Education

Dayanna Obando, 12, was diagnosed with a rare type of eye tumor, an optic glioma, when she was only 2 years old. She came to the United States from her native Costa Rica and received radiation therapy at the treatment clinic of 21st Century Oncology in Fort Myers, FL before returning to Costa Rica. This sweet little girl quickly captured the hearts of everyone in the clinic. Unfortunately, over the years her condition worsened and she underwent a procedure in April in Costa Rica where she had her eye removed. 21st Century C.A.R.E. established a special fund for Dayanna to bring her back to Fort Myers to have an eye prosthesis made, and raised almost $11,000 to pay for the family’s trip and Dayanna’s new eye!

The family arrived in Fort Myers on July 9 and was surprised with a pizza party, Mickey Mouse t-shirts, and gifts for everyone. 21st Century Oncology very generously donated a laptop computer for Dayanna!

The family was kept very busy with appointments at The Southwest Florida Prosthetics Clinic where Gregory Anerino, a Board Certified Anaplastologist, expertly constructed a new eye for Dayanna that perfectly matched her other eye. He even made her a spare eye! Dayanna was thrilled with her eye, and both her parents said “We have our little girl back again. She is always smiling now, like she used to be”.

We were able to raise enough money to send Dayanna and her family for a vacation to Disney World with a stay at Give Kids the World before returning to Costa Rica. They had a wonderful time in Orlando, although Dayanna did tire from all the activity and needed a wheelchair towards the end.

The news is not all good, however. It turns out that Dayanna will need to return to Fort Myers in 6 months to a year for another surgery. The original surgery to take out her eye did not properly prepare the back of her eye socket, with the result that the prosthetic eye does not move quite in alignment with her other eye. She will also need another prosthesis made, due to change in the shape of the eye socket as she grows. We now need to raise even more money to bring Dayanna and her mom back a second time.

This is your chance to truly make a difference in the life of this little girl!  Please send a check to 21st Century C.A.R.E. at 2234 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers, FL  33907, or click here to make a secure on-line donation.