Mayana Cerda

Maya had been complaining of pain on her left side since around the beginning of February, 2022. On February 17th I took her to the clinic and they told me to return if her pain got worse. Her pain continued off and on and on February 26 her pain was so bad it brought her to tears. I felt like something just wasn’t right so that night I brought her to the Urgency Room in Eagan. After not being convinced it was possibly a “kidney stone” I again expressed my concern about the pain in her ribs. The doctor then suggested a chest X-ray. He then came in the room and told me one of the worst news in my life…..a mass. An IV was placed and a chest CT was done so they could take a better look. A solid 7x4 cm solid mass was found. We were sent to Childrens hospital in Minneapolis to be admitted to the oncology/hematology unit which was super scary for us (the cancer unit.) Several labs were drawn and an MRI was done. The MRI showed this mass behind her left lung pushing up against her spinal cord. The first thought of what this mass could be was called a Neuroblastoma. A test to determine this type of tumor is called an MIBG (which is like a CT scan) was done which came back negative. Maya then had a PET scan showing the one and only mass, nothing else. The next step was to do a biopsy. Some “dead spots” were already seen in this mass so the doctors wanted to have pathology right next to them during this procedure to make sure “live samples” were taken. On March 4th, Maya was sedated and the biopsy was done. They went in through her back and got a bunch of good samples. The following day we were sent home to wait for results since her pain was under control and she didn’t have any neurological problems. On March 11 we met in the clinic for results. We received the most deviating news, a tumor in the Ewing Family and she would need to start chemo. Maya tried 8 different chemo’s and had over 30+ radiation treatments, had 5 ribs removed and 2 rods and 14 screws on her spine placed along with countless transfusions and hospitalizations.
Maya battled Ewing's Sarcoma for the past 3+ years and the killer disease ended her life at the age of 11 on July 8, 2025. This brave girl fought until the end. She loved animals, drawing, music, Mario cart, her family, My Little Pony, and watching Tik Toks. EVERYBODY loved her and knew "of her." She was one of the coolest kids you could have ever met.