PAOLA, Kan. — One community is holding a fundraiser the day before the Super Bowl to help a Miami County, Kansas toddler battling cancer.
That group will auction off a Kansas City Chiefs-themed gift basket with all the proceeds going to Aurora’s fight.
All Aurora needs is some stickers and a white board to have fun. She likes to share, too!
She’ll be 2 in May. With a smile like hers, you’d never know what she’s fighting inside.
“It was a Thursday we went in because I took off work, I remember that,” Aurora’s mom, Brianna Yanez said. “By Tuesday, she had to start treatments because she was so sick. She went from nothing to stage four.”
The little girl from Paola, Kansas is battling neuroblastoma. Doctors first found a tumor in her stomach, and most recently, in the lining between her skull and brain.
“What does it feel like to have your world not stop, because it did,” Brianna Yanez said.
“She looks to me for protection and safety, and sometimes it makes me feel like I’ve let her down,” Aurora’s dad, Jason Yanez said. “I do everything I can, and it just never feels like it’s enough.”
The medical bills are already stacking up.
“The last one, which came back in November or December, and we’ve had treatments since then, was $3.5 million,” Brianna Yanez said.
That is before insurance, but surely signals a big burden for this family.
That’s where the community comes in.
Seeing her previous work, an area group called “Friends Helping the Community” asked Minden Morrison to put together a Chiefs-themed gift basket.
On Super Bowl eve, it’ll be auctioned off as part of a benefit for Aurora at the Paola Eagles Club with all the proceeds going to her family.
A breast cancer survivor herself, it was a no-brainer for Morrison.
“There’s not much I can do to help her, I know that firsthand,” Morrison said. “There’s not much anybody can do about the situation, but if I can do something small to help her out then I want to do it.”
Morrison is storing the basket items at her friends’ business, Yabez Tanning Salon and Boutique in Louisburg. Donations can be dropped off there.
There is also an Amazon wish list.
Aurora’s family shared a GoFundMe link for other donations. Information on the event Saturday can be found here.