On May 30th, 2014, José and Dania Collazo's life was turned upside down when their 22 month old daughter, Daniella Marie, was diagnosed with stage III Neuroblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer and this meant that, the tumor couldn't be removed with surgery. It had spread to the regional lymph nodes (near the tumor) or other areas around the tumor, but not to other parts of the body.

The devastating news, along with the unknown, gave the family a huge feeling of desperation. This feeling is one they will never forget; at that point, nothing else was of much importance except Daniella's health and also taking care of her older brother, Danny, while going thru this nightmare. Once Daniella was diagnosed, doctors began an immediate plan of attack against this monster illness. They began by treating the Opsoclonus Myoclonus (rare neourological disorder of unknown cause) with immune Globulin, also known as IVIG. This first hospital stay was more than two weeks long. Once a plan of action was put together by Daniella's oncologist and surgeon, the Collazo family returned to the hospital for surgery and Daniella began chemotherapy.

This hard process kept the Collazo family in the hospital for two months. During those difficult times, going to work to support their household was not even an option. Taking care of both their children, Daniella and Big Brother Danny, was priority number one. Unfortunately, the reality of life set in quickly when the bills and financial obligations did not stop, on the contrary, they accumulated. In due time, Dania began to realize that there was no other option and urged her husband, Jose, to return to work which, having to leave his family, was not an easy thing to do. During this time, the amount of support the Collazo family received was amazing. This out pour during their battle with childhood cancer, from people all around them, was what gave Dania the desire to create a foundation of her own,to give back and help other children and families who were suffering thru the same kind of nightmare.

On July of 2015, that dream became a reality when, Jose and Dania Collazo, with the help of Charo Bolaños, Esq., were able to launch Team Daniella's Foundation. Still going thru her own battle with Daniella's health, Dania would continue to fight and help other families that were experiencing the same hardship. Team Daniella's Foundation provides assistance to other families who are dealing with the issues of having a child with cancer or other life threatening disease. The foundation also works hard to give these children some happy moments like when they do the Easter baskets, Halloween costumes and parade thru the hospital and just working hard to bring smiles to their faces, even if for just a short time.

Raising awareness about childhood cancer, should be a priority the world needs to be alerted a to, as well as funding research that works towards ending childhood cancer and any other type of life threatening diseases. Government funding has not been a priority this far. It is up to us to create awareness and raise funds to help save the lives of these children and give as much support, whether it be financial or other kind, to these families who are going thru one of the hardest moments in their lives.