South Florida Girl Battling Cancer Takes Turn For The Worse
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A South Florida girl who turned to the community to find a bone marrow donor in a fight for her life has taken a turn for the worse.
On Briana Vega's Facebook page, "Briana's Warriors", her family wrote Wednesday that while preliminary matches were found, "she has become too sick to be a candidate for transplant and the cancer is too aggressive to give us time to make it to transplant."
Briana, who just recently turned 12, was diagnosed with leukemia in February 2012, just days after her 10th birthday.
She immediately started chemotherapy at Miami Children's Hospital and was doing well.
So well in fact, last year she was featured in a CBS4 report where she was a guest model in a charity fashion show.
"It's fun because I got to design part of the dress," Briana told CBS4 in January 2013.
Her cancer was in remission at the time, but in October 2013, it returned in the form of acute myeloid leukemia.
That's when the idea of a bone marrow transplant first came up.
Her family made it a point to thank everyone in the community who has come out to support Briana.
"We have seen so much kindness, we are just so… truly blessed."
The posting also said that her family, "hopes to go home with hospice to enjoy our baby and the last days we have with her. This girl has truly made us better parents and enlighten our day every day and we are grateful to the doctors that gave us an extra two years with her. Words cannot express the sadness we feel but joy we have had for all the years she's been with us."
It ended with, "We thank everyone for being so generous with your time and helping Briana and our family."