One-year-old Grace Donovan of Middlesex County, who was born in April 2022 to her parents, Kayla and Jimmy, soon displayed an energetic, affectionate personality and developed an intense love for her family, preschool friends, reading, music, and the beach.
However, the family’s world turned upside down on Friday, Jan. 12, when Grace had a routine MRI for what was believed to be a facial cyst. Instead, it turned out to be Kayla and Jimmy’s worst nightmare: cancer.
Further scans soon revealed that Grace had tumors on her skull, jaw, spine, and adrenal gland, which led to her immediately being admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital for the next 10 days. After more tests, she was eventually diagnosed with Stage 4 High-Risk Neuroblastoma.
In the chaotic days following this terrible diagnosis, friends of the Donovan family, Colby and Andrew Marchetti, began a GoFundMe fundraising page to collect money to help the family pay for the extensive treatment plan that Grace will have to undergo.
According to the Marchetti family, this includes five rounds of chemotherapy, tumor removal surgery, two stem cell transplants, radiation, and immunotherapy over the next 18 months.