This is one-year-old baby girl Emmita who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare degenerative disease that destroys muscle tissues and motor neurons that left the little girl unable to do basic tasks like crawl, eat or even breathe without assistance.

The Zolgensma vaccine used to treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is incredibly expensive costing approximately USD 2 Million (GBP 1.4 million) which meant Emmita’s parents were not able to pay for their daughter’s treatment.

However, after a huge online fundraising campaign, the one-year-old Argentinian girl is preparing to receive her first dose of medication at the Italian Hospital located in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires after arriving there yesterday (10th May).

The USD 2 Million (GBP 1.4 million) needed to cover the treatment was raised with the support of Argentinian influencer Santiago Maratea.

Maratea caught wind of the young girl’s predicament and began encouraging his followers, who number 1.3 million, to give what they could to support Emmita’s family.

With Maratea’s help, donations began to flood in and eventually the family had enough to cover the medical bills and the journey from Emmita’s home town of Resistencia in north-eastern Argentina to Buenos Aires.

TodosconEmmita (EveryonewithEmmita) an Instagram account set up by Emmita’s parents posted a picture of the baby girl captioned: “Onboard the flight that will change our lives. I love you all thank you so much for making my dream come true.”

The post, which racked up 75,149 likes in less than 24 hours, was well received by followers who expressed joy and relief that the baby girl was on her way to receive treatment.

Emmita, who was born on 28th April 2020, to Enzo and Natali Torterola, age not stated, was diagnosed with SMA just after being born and since then her parents have been trying to raise the money to treat their daughter.

Natali told local news outlet TN: “Emmita is always smiling. She is a fighter and despite her debilitating illness she has never thrown in the towel.”

She explained that last December (2020) Emmita’s condition worsened so Enzo and her dropped everything and dedicated themselves to raising money for their baby’s treatment.

They started the ‘TodosconEmmita’ Instagram page which has now accumulated 188,000 followers and got the attention of Maratea.

Natali said: “He [Maratea] called us and asked how much money we needed. He then raised USD 100,000 (GBP 70,657) every day until we had enough for the treatment.”

She praised Maratea stating that she plans to meet him in Buenos Aires once Emmita has begun her life-saving treatment.

Emmita is now preparing to receive the Zolgensma vaccine which is expected to dramatically improve the baby girl’s quality of life.