Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation

This fund is in honor of our precious little princess Irini who was taken from us so suddenly on July 3, 2016, 7 days shy of her 4th birthday. Irini was a beautiful, intelligent, fun, loving little girl. Her smile and laugh was so contagious that she left her mark on everyone who crossed her path.

Taking a child from a happy, sunny Saturday afternoon playing in the pool, to a hospital bed the very next morning is every parent’s nightmare. There were no signs, no warnings, not one little indication that fate was about to bring this on.

That morning, June 5, 2016, our lives changed forever and our little girl was no longer the same. Irini was diagnosed with a Grade 4, Glioblastoma Multiforme (“GBM”). GBM is the most common, complex, treatment resistant and deadliest type of brain cancer.

Our strong, fearless little warrior was lying helpless in her own body in the Intensive Care Unit. This tumor had suddenly left her paralyzed. This aggressive, malignant tumour was located on the brainstem, specifically the pons. The brainstem is the posterior part of the brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the spinal cord. The brainstem provides the main motor and sensory to the face and neck including heart rate, breathing, sleeping and eating. It also plays an important role in regulation in cardiac and repository function. It regulates the central nervous system and is pivotal in maintaining consciousness and regulating the sleep cycle.

At the stage and location of the cancer, there was absolutely no treatment available for her. Her prognosis: 9 to 12 months.

We lost Irini exactly 4 weeks after her diagnosis. 4 WEEKS!

While we were foreseeing planning her 4th birthday party, we were making funeral arrangements instead. Something a parent should NEVER have to endure under no circumstances.

As a result, we want to ensure that the research labs are fully equipped and have every possible resource available to them. No lab should be short of any machinery that will potentially save a life. No child or adult should have to suffer from these deadly brain tumours. This is why our goal is to raise $170,000CAD to purchase a piece of equipment that is greatly needed and not available here in Montreal for the Jabado Lab at the Montreal Children's Hospital, a Single Cell RNA-Sequencing machine.

Unless something changes, most of the population will never know of GBM’s existence until it touches them.

Little by little, we can all make a big difference.

Gold & Gray Matter

This is for you Louloudi mou.

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Thank you for all your support towards Poppies for Irina!

Please note that not all donations received are reflected on this page.

Recent activity:

A total of $2,131.35 was raised for Go Gray in May for Irina (2019). Thank you to all the daycares/schools that participated.

A total of $21,886 was raised for our 2019 Easter Fundraiser.

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https://www.jabadolab.com/

https://www.facebook.com/poppies.for.irina/