Please Help Save My Daughter’s Life #SaveYuan

My name is Bernard Borra, a Filipino carpenter working in Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand. I am appealing for help to save my daughter, Gene Mari Yuan Borra.

Yuan is my sweet and talented 10-year old daughter. Dancing is her passion. Before she got sick, she was one of the top dancers of Claravall-Gonzalez School of Classical Ballet in Iloilo City, Philippines, a ballet school accredited by the Royal Academy of Dance. Yuan’s dream was to become a ballet teacher. She wanted to teach and show children the gift and beauty of dance and ballet.

Yuan is also talented with drawing. While in the hospital, drawing made her feel better, calmer. Even though her hand movements weren’t that stable anymore and her eyesight wasn’t as focused, she still drew whenever she could.

She was full of life, full of dreams and potential until she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis. It is an autoimmune brain disease where the immune system targets the brain receptors. It cuts her ability to talk, to walk, to eat, and to breathe properly without an oxygen tank.

Yuan is currently in need of ICU care but the ICU unit of the hospital where we brought her to has no available slot, so she is currently admitted in the service ward. My wife takes care of her 24/7 while I work as a carpenter in Wellington. We have also been non-stop knocking on our friends’ hearts and to everyone we know who can willingly help us financially, morally and spiritually.

However, with the huge amount required for treatment, there’s only so much that we can do. We need PhP 200,000.00 per week (NZD 6,132.35 per week) to cover hospital bills for on-going therapy. My income of $871 per week as a carpenter cannot cover all these costs.

As a migrant father who is thousands of miles away from my daughter, it breaks my heart not being able to be by my daughter’s side right now. Seeing my daughter suffer through our video calls and not being able to hug her is torture. But I don’t have any choice but to work hardest and do everything I can to continue sending money for Yuan’s treatment.

But there is still hope and we remain faithful. Our family is willing to brave the long and difficult road to recovery. Most importantly, Yuan from day 1 has shown determination and a strong will to fight her ailment. When she could still talk, during her first hospitalization, she would always say: “Kaya ko ni! Kaya ko ni!” (“I can do this! I can do this!”)

Together with my family, we appeal for your help and prayers to save our daughter’s life. We would appreciate any amount of help coming from generous and kind-hearted people.

Please help my sweet angel Yuan to dance again, laugh again, and live normally again. Thank you and God bless.