Dayna's Dream Foundation
Dayna was born on July 8th, 2001. As a baby/toddler, she dealt with many strange spurts of high fevers, ear infections, and gastrointestinal issues. Doctors believed it was due to a lactose indolence and low immune system. In retrospect, Dayna’s early health issues and symptoms foreshadowed the long road ahead of her.
As a toddler, Dayna was having issues walking. When she began to take her first steps at seventeen months, Dayna’s baby sitter noticed she appeared to be in pain with each step. She would also often complain of headaches in addition to her body pains. Dayna’s parents insisted that her painful symptoms were not typical of a toddler, but doctors continuously claimed that these were simply growing pains.
By the age of 6, Dayna and her family moved from their New York apartment to Central Florida and although she continued to struggle with her health issues, she attended school and excelled with honors. Even now at 15 years old Dayna maintains a high GPA through her hospital homebound schooling.
During the spring of 2008, Dayna (being an active second grader) participated in a fundraiser that involved the children to run laps to raise money for their school. In the midst of running a lap for the fundraiser, Dayna fell. She was trampled on by many of her classmates, resulting in being taken to the hospital. She was put on bed rest for three weeks to fully recover. It was then that her parents finally had their answers. After reviewing her MRI and blood work, Dayna was diagnosed with JRA and Chiari Malformation. Dayna received Chemotherapy and Embrel injections three times a week along with weekly blood work in order to treat her conditions.
The following four years involved slow but steady progress. However in 2012, Dayna was involved in a six car accident on the high way with her friend’s family. Six months before Dayna’s accident her health had been improving and she was slowly improving. This accident resulted in a huge set back; her health quickly declined and became worse than she had ever previously been. As a result of the accident, her medications had to be re-adjusted. She began receiving Orencia infusions at Shands Hospital. This procedure required her to have a port implanted above her chest cavity beneath her skin, due to her veins collapsing and excessively being used. In total, Dayna has been admitted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for weeks at a time, even during holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. As of 2016, aside from doctors' appointments and impatient stays for her spinal surgeries earlier in the year, Dayna has been able to avoid the emergency room or any other unexpected emergency impatient admissions to the hospital.
In August of 2013, she had to have her gallbladder removed due to massive inflammation that caused it to shut down. This was a result of her JIA/JRA. In November of 2013, she was diagnosed with Cortisol Deficiency and Pseudotumor Celebri. Since then, more medications have been prescribed to her to treat the Pseudotumor Cerebri. She is also now getting infusions of Actemra every month to treat her diseases. With all these medications come many risks and dangerous side effects. These side effects include a range of everyday low risk difficulties to high risk outcomes, including cancer. Due to her health issues and the side effects of her medications, Dayna has not been able to go a day without some sort of pain.
Since then, Dayna has been on numerous medications and has made many visits into the hospital due to her disease. She continues to fight and make the best of every day.