ROUND ROCK, Texas — A 5-year-old Texas girl who is battling cancer and who recently lost her parents will soon get a dream vacation here in Central Texas.
Emerie Servantes was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The San Antonio 5-year-old also lost her mother in a car crash last March. Then, her father died suddenly from pancreatic cancer last September, shortly after being diagnosed.
She now lives with her grandmother, Linda Servantes.
"She's been crying like, this last month, every night. 'I miss my mommy and daddy' and 'I want my mommy and daddy' and 'I want to go with them. I don't want to be here,'" Linda Servantes told KVUE. "And I'm, you know, I hold her and I rock her. She falls asleep crying, I cry with her. But she – it breaks my heart. She gets on her knees and she puts her hands like praying and begs Mom and Dad to come give her a hug. 'Please, please.' And it's real hard."
Before Emerie Servantes's father died, he reached out to an organization called Campaign One at a Time (Campaign OAAT), which helps support families to ease the financial burden of a cancer diagnosis. Her father was hoping the organization could do something special for his daughter to make her happy.
Now Campaign OAAT is organizing a trip to Kalahari Resorts in Round Rock at the end of the month. The Campaign OAAT team plans to present the Servantes family with the remaining funds that have been raised.
"They are, like, they're angels. I am like – I could never thank them for what they're doing. I mean, I don't even have words to express how overwhelmed I am," Linda Servantes said.
If you would like to donate to help send Emerie Servantes on her dream trip and help her family, you can do so on the campaign's site. As of Thursday afternoon, the campaign has raised more than $14,000 of its $50,000 goal.