Star helps cancer patient

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A celebrity is helping to raise awareness for a young girl in need of life-saving surgery, and he is hoping the public can help too.

At just 6 years old, Laura Mendez's eyes speak of resiliency and hope, even after she lost all of her hair and recently her right arm to a rare bone cancer.

Laura was diagnosed and initially treated in her native Cuba. As the tumor grew and she worsened, an aunt sent a letter to Cuban recording star Willy Chirino.

Chirino contacted IKF's Wonderfund, an organization dedicated to helping sick children from other countries receive top-notch medical care at Jackson Memorial's Holtz Children's Hospital. "Immediately, we fell in love with her," Chirino said.

In an unprecedented 10 days, the organization brought their first child from the communist island nation. It was there that Laura lost her arm. "By the time she got to us, she had this enormous lump growing out of her shoulder of her right arm," Jackson Memorial Hospital Dr. John Goldberg revealed.

The 6-year-old still needs an estimated $400,000 worth of cancer treatments to ward off the disease that almost claimed her life once. "Please help us make sure my daughter survives this," said her mother, Yolky Mendez through a translator.

Chirino and his wife are using their star power to help raise the money. "We are appealing to your heart," Chirino said.

Laura is currently in remission but must still undergo up to 30 rounds of chemo therapy that will likely require anywhere from 15 to 20 hospitalizations.

To donate:
Wonderfund
P.O. Box 2020
Miami, FL 33101

http://www.wonderfund.org/

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