Dozens of cards and letters arriving every day are helping to keep a Winnipeg girl's spirits up as she battles cancer.

In September, four year-old Mikayla Geller was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the nervous system.

Since then, Mikayla has been in and out of the hospital, enduring seven rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, designed to try and restart her immune system.

Previous Next While the transplant appears to be a success, it has left her temporarily unable to fight off infections — meaning Mikayla has to be isolated from almost everyone for the next several weeks.

Last week her family made a plea on Facebook:

“Mikayla is going to be in ... isolation and I know that she would absolutely love to get some mail from people. If I could ask a small favour and ask that people mail her some postcards, letters, etc. I know it would really make her happy!”

The response was quick and almost overwhelming. Each day 15 to 20 new letters, postcards and packages arrive for the four-year old, and she is thrilled.

“Mikayla got so many wonderful cards today. It sure cheered her up,” said the family in a new post.

Being at daughter’s bedside costs family dearly

Through all of this Mikayla’s mother has been her constant companion.

“She sleeps at the hospital every night and only comes home to shower and freshen up,” said Ben, Mikayla’s father, in a Facebook post.

But being by her daughter’s side has come with a cost.

Sarah took a leave of absence from work in order to be with her daughter. To help cover some of the costs, Sarah has started a GoFundMe.com campaign.

More challenges ahead

Despite the hardships, the family is cautiously optimistic about Mikayla’s fight.

“The tumour is responding to the chemotherapy and has shrunk approx. 40 per cent! This tells us the treatment is working,” the family posted recently following a CT scan and follow up appointment with the doctor. The scan, however, also revealed the tumour is still too big to be removed surgically.

And the worst may still be yet to come.

Next month, Mikayla will face 20 rounds of radiation treatment, and immunotherapy, where antibodies are introduced to fight the cancerous neuroblastoma cells. Unfortunately the antibodies also target healthy nerve cells — causing extreme pain. Something that has the Geller family anxious.

“We were hoping for slightly better news, but we will take every little victory we can get!”

If you would like to send Mikayla a letter, address your envelopes:

Children's Hospital

C/O CK5 - 840 Sherbrook St.

Winnipeg, MB

R3A 1S1

ATTN: MIKAYLA GELLER