DCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to providing financial support to families of children with cancer, raising awareness, and funding research to help kids fight cancer. In her 8 years on this earth, she impacted countless lives and hearts all over the world. She went through more than anyone should ever have to go through, battling a “rare” pediatric cancer, and she faced it with grace and s
trength that most adults seek but are never able to attain in their lifetime. She had the most loving and kind heart and showed incredible empathy for other people’s pain and struggles, even when she was going through so much worse herself. The world changed colors when she left it. Daniela was the most well adjusted, kind, loving, HEALTHY 5-year-old you could ever meet. She never even had strep throat or an ear infection. On October 1st, 2016, Daniela started to complain of a severe stomach ache. That evening she was rushed to St. Catherine’s of Sienna Hospital in Smithtown, NY. After a long night of MRI scans, Daniela was rushed to Stonybrook Children’s Hospital after doctors discovered her liver was enlarged with unknown masses. During her stay at Stonybrook Hospital, doctors ran many tests and performed a biopsy. On October 5th, 2016, our world came crashing down when Daniela's doctors delivered the most devastating news of our lives. We were pulled into a room and were told that our daughter had cancer. A type of cancer called “Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma”. A cancer we have never heard of before in our entire lives. The tumors they found were in her hepatic portal vein and had metastasized into her liver. Daniela immediately had to get a mediport put in her chest and had to start chemotherapy immediately. Daniela endured 40 weeks of chemo treatments, weeks of radiation, experimental procedures, a liver ablation, and dozens of MRI’s and PET scans. She had beaten this BEAST three times until it came back a fourth time in December 2020. Finally, after trying immunotherapy, Daniela’s body became too weak to fight this disease a fourth time. She was admitted to ICU and after spending a week and a half there she passed away peacefully on March 2, 2020. When Daniela was receiving treatments at Stonybrook Children’s Hospital she never viewed herself as sick. It was her strength and bravery and a strong love of life that inspired many. She will always be remembered as a fun-loving, kind-hearted girl and will be missed forever. The Daniela Conte Foundation was formed to honor Daniela’s life. Our mission is dedicated to provide financial support to families of children dealing with a pediatric cancer diagnosis, raise awareness and fund research to help kids fighting cancer. We help families struggling with the financial burden of cancer-related health care costs, living expenses, loss of income, and other costs that continue to occur during treatment. With your support, we can achieve our vision that no family with a child battling cancer will fight alone. Through this foundation and working with other like-minded foundations and groups, we will raise awareness and hope that a cure will be found. All donations are 100% tax deductible, and will help children and their families who are fighting cancer every day. We are a 100% volunteer-based organization. Each dollar that you donate goes directly into the Daniela Conte Foundation to fund our programs. Visit our website to donate! www.danielacontefoundation.org
