Arya McDougall-MacLaine has big plans this summer.
The five-year-old Calgary girl is preparing to embark on a 50-night camping trip with her family in Ontario where she will visit her grandparents and swim to her heart’s content.
The little girl’s parents say they’re hoping to give their daughter a fun-filled summer before she begins an experimental treatment for cancer in the U.S. in the fall.
“We'd just like to do a lot of fun things with her this summer knowing that she's asymptomatic right now and very happy and energetic and we don't know how long that will last,” her mother Petra McDougall told CTV News Calgary on Wednesday.
Arya was three years old when doctors discovered multiple tumours on her brain and spine. Since that time, she’s undergone five surgeries and more than 60 radiation treatments. Unfortunately, chemotherapy is not an effective treatment for her type of cancer.
After exhausting all of their options in Canada, Arya’s parents said they have signed her up for a clinical trial in Washington, D.C. that will attempt to strengthen her blood against toxins.
“We don’t know what the outcome of this could be,” McDougall said. “But being told that you’re out of options and having your child put on palliative care is a very scary thing.”
In order to pay for the trip to Washington, the family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds.
“Our hope is that we can extend her life and continue to have good quality of life,” McDougall said.
