Charlotte Observer/The State

For now, Isabel Jurado walks and runs, plays and laughs like most 3-year-old girls.

But only for now — because if she doesn’t get medical help, her world likely will go silent, speechless and immobile in a matter of years.

A day after her third birthday on May 22, doctors first diagnosed Isabel with a rare, 1-in-70,000 disorder called Sanfilippo syndrome, or MPS III.

She needs a stem-cell transplant to block the advancing disease. Duke Medical Center’s pediatric bone marrow division has performed more transplants for MPS children than any other hospital in the country.

The problem is the Duke division is not a network provider for the Jurados’ insurance company, and the operation and treatment could cost more than $1 million.

So as Isabel’s parents, Jimmy and Leslie, negotiate with their insurer, their friends and relatives — and strangers — are coming to the rescue, unwilling to wait for bureaucratic decisions.