Zoja

"As parents, when you welcome a child into this world, you have one real expectation: that you will leave this world before your child, because that is how it's supposed to be," begin Joanna and Daniel, as they lovingly recount the past two and a half months with their brave daughter, Zoja.

Zoja's brain tumor symptoms began with her vomiting several times a day. Our GP initially diagnosed this as diarrhea and vomiting, or viral gastroenteritis. However, the symptoms continued, and Zoja wasn't getting any better despite numerous trips and phone calls to the GP.

Stressed by her condition, we decided to go to the pediatric hospital in Poznań (a city on the Warta River in western Poland). The following day, we were taken into a side room and told that Zoja had a lesion in her brain, most likely a tumor.

Zoja was transferred the same day to the neurosurgery ward at a different hospital, where we met two consultants who had scheduled Zoja for brain tumor surgery. The surgery took place on March 4, 2025, but unfortunately, surgeons were not able to remove the entire tumor due to its location in the brain.

Zoja has bravely completed another round of therapy and another blood transfusion. Every day, she shows us just how incredibly strong she is. We have lost count of the operations she's endured.

We are her unwavering pillars through all of this. Our constant presence—through every operation, every painful day, every small victory—is a testament to the kind of love that doesn't flinch in the face of hardship.

After her last chemotherapy, Zoja's results were very good, and the doctors decided to let us go home. After two and a half months, we finally returned home for a few precious days.