Marcelina ahead of toughest fight❗Brain tumor and risky transplant❗

Marcelinka is a joyful 4-year-old who is not yet aware of what her life is like.

Not so long ago I was sure that I was a mother of three healthy, wonderful and dreaming daughters. Nothing foreshadowed the tragedy. Marcelina was born on February 12, 2021 as such a complement to our family, she spent 3 years of a beautiful, carefree life full of love and joy. She developed even better than by the book, as an independent 2.5-year-old she began her preschool adventure in a group of older children.

On March 26, 2024-a month after her 3rd birthday-the world stopped for us,

Dark clouds descended on our home and took away plans and dreams. At the first blood count, the blood results were tragic. Significant abnormalities in the entire blood structure came out. We were immediately taken to Cape of Hope, an oncology unit with suspected acute leukemia in immediate life-threatening condition.

She was given platelets and a bone marrow biopsy was taken from her hip plate.

Then came the surprise, as there were no leukemia blasts in the bone marrow. Subsequent genetic testing showed no changes. In May, Marcelina underwent a trepanobiopsy with drilling of a cylinder of bone from the hip, and peripheral blood was drawn. The material was sent to Freiburg, Warsaw and Lodz. Blood and bone cancer and Fanconi anemia were then ruled out. As the results flowed, we wandered in the dark, and the blood parameters worsened. Nail plate lesions also intensified.

Stem cell transplant preparation procedure has begun

Marcelina's oldest sister, 13-year-old Julia who has a full match with her, was selected as the donor. Tests from Freiburg showed telomere shortening below the 1st percentile. After almost 6 months of testing, we received the diagnosis, Congenital Dyskeratosis Type 3, a mutation in the TINF2 gene, a fatal and incurable disease. It is devastating to the body, damaging the bone marrow, causing pulmonary fibrosis, liver failure, deformation of the nails, with complete loss of nails, and spots on the skin, caused by poor pigmentation. This diagnosis took away our future, and there is no cure. The transplant that gave us hope for a new life, with this diagnosis does not cure, it is only a way to prolong life.

This is a huge test for our family.

Despite the fear, we are learning a new reality every day. We enjoy every day together and hope that we will all be together for as long as possible. After a sea of shed tears, hope-which is said to die last in man-is coming to the fore. We count on the development of medicine and that in the future there will be a chance for treatment and life. Now we have a difficult road ahead, full of tests and visits to specialists. Wish us strength to go through it, not to give up and not to fall apart into a million pieces."