Daphne Hannaford is just eight years old, but she’s already facing a challenge far worse than most people could fathom. The young girl, who is a jiu-jitsu student at Lee Brothers MMA in Indiana, has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor that doesn’t respond to chemotherapy, and now, the fight is on to help her family afford the radiation therapy that could help save her life.
Daphne’s family and BJJ coach started to notice that her eyes were becoming more and more crossed over time, making reading difficult for her. Later on, she began to struggle with her balance and was constantly fatigued. After a few trips to the eye doctor, her family took her to the doctor, at which point an MRI revealed that there was a tumor on her brain stem.
One of Daphne’s coaches, a blue belt at the gym, put out a plea for help on Reddit after donations for the family’s GoFundMe started to slow. The money will be used to help pay for the six weeks of radiation therapy (of which she’s halfway through) and trial medication that Daphne will need to try to shrink the tumor. Now, we’re trying to reach even more of the jiu-jitsu community to help the family get Daphne the treatment she needs. If you can contribute anything at all, even a single dollar, towards Daphne’s treatment, please check out the GoFundMe and help it reach its goal.
