Toronto Parents Raise Money For Their Baby Girl's $2.7M Dose Of Medicine

It's been called the "world's most expensive drug."
Contributor

After a huge fundraising effort, two Toronto parents now have enough money to cover the "devastating" cost of their daughter's medicine.

Jessica and Ricardo Batista welcomed baby Eva into the world on August 11, 2019.

Two months later, Eva was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

When they received the diagnosis, they began searching for treatments and fell upon Zolgensma — a drug that could potentially save Eva's life.

However, it's only been approved in the U.S. and comes at a hefty cost — $2.1 million USD, to be exact, which is roughly $2.75 million CAD.

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It is a devastating amount that any middle-class family can never achieve.

Ricardo and Jessica Batista

For the past year, the Batista family has been using a GoFundMe to raise funds. 

"We are begging our community, family, friends and everyone willing to help donate as every effort and donation makes a difference and will get our daughter Eva that much closer to this life-saving medication we so desperately need," the family wrote.

On October 11, the Batista family finally hit their goal of $2.8 million raised. 

"Thank you for every donation, every share, every comment, like, follow, for being apart of our journey, for sticking by our side.. we cannot have done it without you." 

Eva will receive her dose of Zolgensma at Sick Kids Hospital.

  • Abby Neufeld was a writer at Narcity Canada. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Professional Communications at the University of Victoria. Her past work has been published in The Toronto Star, Bitch Media, Canadian Dimension, This Magazine, and more. In 2019, Abby co-founded The New Twenties, an environmentally-focused literary and arts magazine.

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