The expat family of a 14-year-old girl is in a race against time to save her life after she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
Leonor, who lives in Benalmadena, received the devastating news of her condition in February of this year.
In a statement online, her mother, from Norway, said standard treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not viable treatment options.
Their only hope lies in a specialist clinic in Germany, which offers a personalised immunotherapy vaccine designed to target Leonor’s specific tumour type – a diffuse astrocytoma, located deep in her brain.
‘It’s inoperable. Surgery would do more harm than good,’ her mother, Milena Temelkova, said in a GoFundMe page, which was launched to raise funds to give Leonor a chance of survival.
‘The only option is the treatment in Germany, which costs €40,000. We’re a working family with just one normal income.’
The German clinic has spent two decades developing personalised cancer treatments. If they can raise enough funds, Leonor would undergo a molecular analysis of her immune system, which would then be used to create a tailor-made vaccine designed to teach her body to fight the tumour cells carrying this specific mutation.
The diagnosis has upended the lives of Leonor and her mother, who moved to Spain eight years ago.
Until symptoms began in November last year, life was normal. Leonor attended a Norwegian school in Benalmadena, and her mother worked at a real estate advisory firm for foreigners.
‘She used to dance at a high level, she surfed, now none of that,’ Milena said.
‘She can walk, and medication helps her manage epileptic seizures, but she’s weaker. She talks, but sometimes it’s hard.
‘She catches every virus and bacteria going around because her immune system is so low.’
Despite her condition, Milena describes her daughter as an ‘active and joyful’ teen who struggled with depression when first diagnosed.
Today, her toughest days are hospital visits, especially when doctors say there’s no available treatment.
Her best days are at school, where she feels ‘normal’ among friends and forgets, at least for a while, about being sick.
The plan is to begin treatment in Germany in November. But to do so, the family urgently needs €31,500 upfront, followed by monthly payments of around €1,500 for five to six months.
So far, they’ve raised more than €12,000 via their GoFundMe page and an additional €3,000 through the local charity El Vuelo de las Libélulas in Benalmadena, which has organised fundraising events, including a charity ice rink and solidarity stickers distributed through local businesses.
Anyone wishing to contribute can donate via GoFundMe or send a Bizum donation to 08672 with the reference ‘Leonor’, organised by El Vuelo de las Libélulas.
