Tymek is a 6 year old family friend and a little warrior, fighting neuroblastoma cancer. His parents need to raise over 200,000 euros for Tymek to access the immunotherapy. This is why I ask for your help and appreciate all your support!

You can also view Tymek’s fundrising page on: https://www.siepomaga.pl/en/ratujemytymka

Full heart-breaking story by Tymek's mum:

"Tymek is fighting cancer, and we are fighting for him, if his life ends, ours will too. There are no words to describe the despair, the fear, the pain when you see your little child struggling with death, so helpless, so weak in the face of a deadly disease. We only have time until March to collect a huge amount of money for our son's treatment, so we hardly have any time left at all. We are begging for help! Help our son defeat the cancer, to leave the oncological hell, we would do everything and give everything, because nothing matters to us except his life...

"It's cancer. We do not know what kind yet, but definitely cancer "- we heard exactly this at Easter. On the festival of life, we found out that our child is dying and that if treatment didn't start immediately, last Christmas would be our last year together. Our son's life would be irretrievably lost.

In one moment we were sat at the Easter table, and just a few hours later we were in the hematology and oncology ward, devastated, shocked, terrified ... For several days Tymek complained of stomach ache - we were at the doctors and they performed an ultrasound test, but nothing was found ... During Easter his heart began to ache, when he sat down at the table, he cried. Sobbing, he told us that he was in so much pain... We dropped everything and went straight to the hospital. We were afraid. We had lots of thoughts racing through our heads but we never thought it could be cancer. However, it was only when Tymek was taken to a hospital and transferred to another with an oncology ward... that they found a grapefruit-sized tumour in our son's chest. The tumour pressed against his lungs, heart and aorta. It was 9 centimetres long and metastasis to the lymph nodes and bones had already started...

It all ended in just one second; everything that mattered before Tymek's illness melted away like dust in the wind. Only one thing mattered in the entire world and it was the fact that our child is suffering from cancer; neuroblastoma, a very rare cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. A cancer that attacks only little children, as if it was choosing the weakest ones, who have the smallest chances of survival. It is not only very malicious and aggressive, but it had chosen our baby! If only we could take Tymek's illness - we would. We would take all his suffering away. After all, we are strong, we are adults and we should protect him. Meanwhile, we have been helpless... Half the children suffering from neuroblastoma die.

Treatment had to start immediately, there was no time to adjust to the bad news, to cry. Time is cancer's greatest ally - every day without treatment favours the development of a tumor that can grow to even twice it's size in one night! The oncology ward became our second home for many months. We took shifts visiting our baby boy, we were with him day and night. Tymek changed from a happy child who loves football, riding a bicycle and swimming, to a boy chained to a hospital bed, connected to a drip with chemo... Instead of the colorful tones of a child's room, the walls were the sterile white of a hospital ward; instead of family and friends - nurses became his new aunts, and other sick children his new friends. The doctors warned us that the fight would be difficult and we should prepare ourselves for the worst. However, it is impossible to prepare yourself to witness your child crying out in pain, vomiting and losing all his hair. Tymek had blood transfusions, was given oxygen, his kidneys stopped working... At one point, he had more than two kilos of water in his body! It was everywhere - in his tummy and the pleura... Doctors considered surgery, but there was a high risk that it would permanently disable our son. They also considered putting him into an induced coma ... Finally, he was given a permanent catheter for dialysis. At this stage we were not only afraid of cancer, but also of complications; haemorrhaging – as the wound was bleeding for many hours - pulmonary emphysema and so many others... It was tough. Very tough...

Then hope came back - the surgery to remove the tumor went without complications. Instead of being afraid, Tymek could not wait for it.... He believed that thanks to the surgery he would recover, that it would end his suffering, his fear and hospital stays. Children should look forward to presents or holidays, and not to the moment when they will be on the operating table! The next stage was to start a high-dose chemotherapy treatment, which unfortunately destroys not only cancer cells but also the bone marrow. High-dose chemotherapy was followed by stem cell transplantation. Severe treatments, severe side effects... Tymek's kidneys no longer function like the kidneys of a healthy person, and his hearing also deteriorated drastically. There were days when despite morphine Tymek was in agonising pain, days when he was in a feverish mood, did not eat, or drink, he did not have the strength for anything. During those days, only hope kept us alive, hope that our son is strong and that he will survive. Sometimes, in the evening, we cry in a pillow, but he can not see our tears... We tell him that he will manage to recover, that he will succeed. However, if we do not find funds for immunotherapy, these words will be a lie...

Ahead of us is radiotherapy, and then immunotherapy. GD2 antibody in Krakow - what according to the medical protocol, is to make Tymek recover and increase the chance that there will be no relapse... This is the most important step. And the most expensive... The administration of antibodies that stimulate the body's immunity is the meaning and purpose of the whole treatment. It used to be possible only in Germany, but now is also available in Krakow, Poland but for a huge amount of money... Our state will not reimburse us for this treatment, we have to pay for it ourselves. When we heard the price, we burst into tears. Over 200,000 euros - this is how much our son's life is worth. We can barely bear the thought of how sick our child is, and now another burden – how to secure the fortune that can save Tymek's life?!

We ask for your help, for hope ... From the autotransplant to the initiation of immunotherapy, the whole treatment should take up to 120 days! This means treatment must start at the beginning of March at the very latest. We are afraid - not only for our son's life, but also whether we will make it in time to raise all the money. This is a price that we would never be able to pay by ourselves, this is why we beg you for your help. Because Tymek's life is now in somebody else's hands, in your hands... We pray to God for a miracle... Please - be our miracle and save our child's life."