Brandon Toddler Needs Support at Fundraiser for Rare Disease Battle

Her three years "have been filled with love and sweetness," but also with "29 surgeries to date, monthly hospital stays and visits to specialist doctors in four states."

That, according to the family and friends of Lila Grace Ruiz, who "struggles daily with an extremely rare disorder called megcystis-Microcolon-Intestinal-Hypoperistalsis Syndrome."

That's what the family and friends of Lila Grace Ruiz want you to know about the child who has captured the heart of residents throughout Greater Brandon.

A fundraiser on her behalf is scheduled to kick off today, April 28, at 10 a.m., to help support her travel to rare disease specialists in Dallas and Cincinnati.

• To learn more about Lila Grace, Bloomingdale-Riverview Patch Editor D'Ann White interviewed the toddler's mother in this report.

"Shockingly, only 15 to 25 people with Lila's condition are alive in the United States today," reads the report from Grace's family.

The Family Fundraiser for Lila Ruiz, which runs through 5 p.m., is to include music, a monster truck and car show, bounce houses, balloons, face-painting, raffle giveaways, a silent auction and food.

• To learn more about the monster truck attraction, Brandon Patch editor Linda Chion Kenney interviewed a Hillsborough County school bus driver, and former Tampa police officer, in this report.

The Winthrop Pole Barn sits between Watson and Providence roads, at 11349 Bloomingdale Ave., in the Greater Brandon community of Riverview.

Event organizers say all proceeds will go to Ruiz and her family in support of her medical care.

To donate online via PayPal, visit staystronglila.com. Or, call Sandy Martinez at: 813-309-2395 or 813-681-2395.