A Lethbridge, Alta. couple has filed a court injunction in a desperate bid to keep their eight-month-old daughter on life support.

Doctors say Hermella, whose name means "wisdom of God," is brain dead and won't recover. But Hermella's parents, Anna Motsyk and Will Mammo, still believe she has a chance.

The couple has already spent six months worrying for Hermella's life. When the child was only two months old she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Doctors discovered a heart murmur during a routine check-up, which led them to find an adrenocortical tumour just above her kidney.

At the time, doctors told Motsyk and Mammo that Hermella wouldn't live much longer.

"They told us that our kid is very sick," Motsyk told CTV Calgary. "(They said) she's going to die very soon and there's nothing that can be done."

The parents refused to give up hope. They flew to Toronto, where a doctor agreed to perform a risky surgery on Hermella.

The procedure seemed to be a success and the couple returned to Calgary with their daughter, who remained in a coma following the treatment.

But when they returned to Alberta they were hit with another piece of devastating news. Doctors said Hermella had developed an infection, and that she was likely braindead.

Mammo and Motsyk carefully monitored their daughter, searching for signs a recovery might be possible.

"She started moving her fingers. Her eyes started twitching," Mammo said. "She had nothing and now she has something."

But doctors said the movements weren't a sign of a recovery.

"When that happened, we were told this is just a sign that her brain is getting worse," Mammo said.

Then, on Dec. 3, the Alberta Children's Hospital sent Mammo and Motsyk a letter. In it, the hospital said it didn't believe Hermella could make a "meaningful recovery," and that it planned to take her off life support in a week, on Dec. 10.

Motsyk and Mammo responded by seeking a court injunction to keep Hermella on life support.

As part of the injunction, they say they plan to submit a letter from doctors at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton as evidence.

"I would counsel this family toward withdrawal of life support for their baby Hermella," the letter reads. "However, given the clinical examination and nuclear medicine perfusion scan do not support a legal declaration of brain death, it would be up to this baby's family to agree with a withdrawal of life support."

Mammo says all the couple is asking for is a little more time.

"No one has a crystal ball. You cannot tell us to give up on our kid," he said.

"We hope the court will see that she is alive and she is going to go far," Motsyk added. "If she can't, then we'll make our peace with it."

With files from CTV Calgary