#BellaRoseNeverGivesUp

DREAM TRIP

TO DISNEY WORLD & GIVE KIDS THE WORLD VILLAGE

Goal: $5000

Raised: ..

In October 2020, as the world was already gasping under the weight of a pandemic, a mother in Conroe, Texas, got the kind of call that guts you. Her five-year-old daughter, Bella, had stopped breathing. She was seizing alone, in the middle of the night, while staying at her grandparents’ house.

It wasn’t an adult who noticed. It was Bella’s three-year-old baby sister who found her, limp and unresponsive, and screamed for help.

For what felt like an eternity, Bella’s grandparents fought to keep her alive. 15 minutes. That’s how long they desperately tried to revive her while waiting for EMS to arrive. 15 minutes of unimaginable fear, helplessness, and panic—the kind of time that no parent, no grandparent, should ever have to endure. Fifteen minutes of knowing that each second felt like it could be Bella’s last.

Bella’s Mom recalls, "I got a call that my five-year-old daughter was being rushed to the emergency room after she stopped breathing."

That phone call will haunt Bella’s mom forever. But that was just the beginning of the nightmare.

Seizures became constant, violent, silent, and unpredictable. Some days, Bella would stare into nothing, eyes frozen, completely unresponsive. Other times her body would jerk and collapse without warning. The family begged for answers. MRIs came back clear. No one could explain what was happening to her. The fear became a full-time presence in their home.

Then one cold day in January, the phone rang again.

A neurologist delivered the news without warning or warmth: Bella had mitochondrial disease. No explanation. No resources. Just five words that felt like a death sentence.

“I was alone when they said it. I Googled it. And then I shut down. I saw there was no cure. I stopped sleeping. I stopped eating. I cried every night. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if my daughter was dying.”

Mitochondrial disease is a rare, progressive, and life-threatening illness. It affects the mitochondria—the parts of our cells responsible for producing energy. When they fail, the body can’t function properly. It can impact every system in the body: the brain, muscles, heart, liver, and more. Symptoms often worsen over time. There is no cure.

Bella’s condition unraveled rapidly. Autism. GI problems. Memory loss. Seizures. Speech and learning delays. Her body was in a constant war with itself. Doctors said her brain seemed frozen at the age of five, forever stuck in the year her seizures took over.

There were moments when Bella’s mom simply couldn’t cope. The weight of it all felt suffocating. "I felt like I was drowning," she said, remembering the nights she spent crying, unsure if Bella would wake up from the next seizure.

The options presented by doctors were heart-wrenching: brain surgery, which could leave Bella without memories and the ability to function, or a vagus nerve stimulator implant to try to control the seizures. With courage, Bella’s mom refused brain surgery. She couldn’t risk taking Bella’s memories, her ability to think and feel.

At just five years old, Bella had already endured more than most people could bear. She was now dependent on a wheelchair for long distances, wearing leg braces to help with her gait, and a helmet to protect her head from the violent seizures. Her mother had to pull her from Little League cheerleading after just one season when Bella’s seizures returned with a vengeance. The things that should have been the most joyful moments of Bella’s childhood had become impossibly out of reach.

"I just wish things were different. Bella misses out on so much. She can’t do what other kids can do. She’s always tired. She can’t run. She can’t play the way I want her to. And that hurts," Bella’s mother said, the pain of watching her daughter suffer visible in every word.

But Bella has never stopped fighting. Even in the face of overwhelming adversity, she continues to bring light into the darkest of times. She still loves to collect seashells at the beach, even if it means spending hours resting between each step. She loves to cheer, even though she can’t physically participate the way she used to. She clings to the small joys like her baby doll, Bella Rose, and her stuffed lamb, Lenny, who has been with her through everything, from hospital visits to surgeries.

Despite everything she’s been through, Bella never complains. "She loves to help everyone," her mother shared. "She’s the best big sister. She always wants to make people smile. She’s an amazing little girl."

When asked what a dream trip would mean for Bella, her mom doesn’t hesitate:

“It would give us a break in life. A chance to be happy. To just be a family.”

Because after everything, every seizure, every emergency room visit, every sleepless night, what this family needs most is a moment to breathe, to laugh, and to make memories that aren’t tied to hospitals and heartbreak.

Bella’s journey is one of unimaginable pain, but through every trial, her family refuses to give up. They fight for every breath, every smile, every precious moment. No matter how hard the road gets, they will never stop fighting for each other, and for the hope that keeps them going.

Let’s raise $5,000 to send Bella and her family on a once-in-a-lifetime dream trip to Disney World and Give Kids The World!

What will it take?!

It will cost $5,000 to fulfill our goal of covering the costs of Bella’s dream trip.
If just 50 people gave $100, we would reach this goal!

Any funds raised after our $5,000 goal will go on to help more kids like Bella!

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