Cancer Warrior, Leilani Sophia Trinidad

Each week, Fourth and Gold will highlight a cancer warrior that has bravely and fiercely stood strong against childhood cancer. At Fourth and Gold, we want you to see the faces behind our drive and connect with them in a way you wouldn’t have been able to if you didn’t take the stand to demand #MoreThan4! Our precious kids have cancer, but cancer is not who they are.

Week of May 6th, 2018

Leilani Sophia Trinidad, AKA Sofi, diagnosed with supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumours (CNS PET) a form of brain tumors at 7 years of age

Current Age: 8 years old, (DOB 7-12-2009)

Favorite things: Sofi is your typical girlie girl! She LOVES dancing and making music.ly videos while doing it! If Sofi is not dancing, she’s probably shopping (thanks mom! 😉 ), putting on makeup, making slime or bonding with her sister

Favorite foods: Sofi has a wide variety of an appetite. If you’re hangin out with Sof, you better be bringin Mexican food, Pho, Alfredo Pasta, Pizza or Taquis. Don’t leave her hanging without some of her favorite foods!

If you know Sofi, you know that she: Might come off a little shy at first, but she is very friendly and loving. She’s really big into fashion, so you might be asking her for fashion advice once you see her perfect outfits 😉

What you cannot see here is that Sofi has undergone:

• 2 Brain Surgeries
• 7 Weeks of Radiation
• 5 Cycles of IV Chemo
• 6 Cycles of Oral Chemo
• 2 Port Placements
• And how many more procedures and/or treatments she has left remains unknown

Sofi’s mom on the hardest part of her child having cancer: “Seeing her getting sick, losing her eyelashes and her hair. Seeing how her skin color changes… one day she was green, some days she looks yellow. Seeing her struggle to take new medications. Seeing her wanting to eat something, but she can’t because she doesn’t want to vomit and lose her NG tube.”

Sofi’s mom on what she wishes people knew about childhood cancer: “That childhood cancer exists and it’s happening a lot. There are a lot of kids battling cancer. Childhood cancer is not rare and there are a lot of kids like Sofi that need help because they can’t fight cancer alone.”

Biggest change since Sofi’s diagnosis: “Sofi came back to life after her first surgery. She was the same girl again…she smiled, she could run, she could read. She could do the stuff that she loves and we are stronger than we thought.”

Sofi is the definition of a warrior. She has faced cancer in the face with grace and dignity, letting it know that she will win this battle. At 8 years of age, Sofi has had to grow up quicker than we could ever know and fight a battle that was never meant to fight for an 8 year old. Sofi is kind, smart and beautiful and she deserves WAY more than 4% of research funding.

We introduce you to Sofi and warriors like her, because we want you to know WHO they are, not what they have. We want you to connect with them so that you can, at the very least, get a visual of what they face on a daily basis. We want to stir it up in your heart to want to do more to make a difference in the lives of children battling childhood cancer.

As mentioned before, there are so many things that can help make a difference. If you’re able to- donate blood and platelets, contribute in walks for the cure, donate to research foundations, support businesses that support childhood cancer, but most of all… be aware. If you don’t know someone affected by childhood cancer… now you do. Her name is Leilani Sophia Trinidad and she deserves #MORETHAN4.

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In honor of brain tumor awareness month, we encourage you to wear gray, post pictures and tag us on social media at @fourth_and_gold_llc, hashtag #GoGrayInMay for a chance to win a goody bag at the end of the month.

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#MoreThan4 #NotRare