But her best hope also happened to be the world’s most expensive drug — a $2.1 million treatment called Zolgensma.

Without support from insurance, her parents Ariel and Shani Cohen turned to their Jewish community through social media in hopes of covering the staggering cost. The outpouring of support, from South Florida and around the world, proved equally staggering.

A campaign on the Jewish crowdfunding site The Chesed Fund raised more than $2.2 million — in just five days. The deadline was critical because Eliana’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), deteriorates a child’s muscles and Zolgensma can only be administered to patients less than 2 years old.

Eliana received the treatment on Friday and the little girl, who has since turned 2, was doing well over the weekend, said Rabbi Yosef Galimidi of the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, who is close with the family.

“It wasn’t one person’s miracle,” Galimidi said. “It was a team effort.”

Money was donated in dollars, British pounds and Israeli shekels.

The fund-raising efforts is now closed and was verified by The Chesed Fund, meaning the website required documents including rabbinical endorsements, medical bills and at least two references to confirm the cause was legitimate. The Cohens, an Orthodox couple, did not respond to the Miami Herald’s multiple attempts for comment. Maria Santi, the family’s health care attorney, said the Cohens did not want to discuss Eliana’s case with media.

Jacob Solomon, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, said he and the federation found out about Eliana’s story by watching a YouTube video featuring Eliana’s mother and receiving emails about the campaign.

The federation quickly researched the situation, Solomon said. He was shocked to learn the $2.1 million price was real. Time was ticking, so the federation sent out its own email to about 50,000 people to spread the word. He was relieved when the family reached its goal.

“I was in awe of the miracles that came come from human beings,” Solomon said. “Our tradition teaches that if you save one life, it’s as if you’re saving a whole universe.”

The video was produced by MicDrop, a communications training company founded by former WSVN reporter Rosh Lowe, which published Shani Cohen’s plea for help on July 14. It has since been viewed more than 71,000 times.

Lowe said the family approached him for help raise awareness about their situation. After the video was posted online, he said the campaign raised $1.4 million in 15 hours.

“There’s this saying, ‘Words from the heart go to the heart,’ and that’s what happened here,” Lowe said.

The video also explained Eliana’s medical plight. When she was 8-months-old, her parents noticed her lower body muscles were very weak, Cohen said in the video. While other babies her age were standing up, Eliana could barely crawl.

The doctor suggested taking her to a neurologist and a physical therapist when she was a year old, Cohen said. She was misdiagnosed with a condition that is treated with physiotherapy.

Cohen said she put her life on hold to take care of her daughter. She didn’t know what to answer when people asked why she wasn’t working or when her daughter would start school. When she filmed the video, she still didn’t have those answers.

“We hoped that any day she would get up and run to us,” she said.

But Eliana continued to grow weaker, and an MRI scan came back clean. Doctors still didn’t know what was wrong.

The next test was for SMA, a disease so rare Cohen said the doctor didn’t think that would be Eliana’s diagnosis. Babies diagnosed with the most severe form of SMA die before their second birthday, according to NPR.

“’We just have to check it off the list. Make sure it’s not it,’” Cohen recalled the doctor saying.

The doctor was wrong, she said. Any hope of Eliana running to her mother was gone.

The Cohens were told there was a “miracle cure,” but it was priced at $2.1 million. They spent the following weeks fighting with their insurance company and scrambling to raise the money.

Zolgensma, a gene therapy that targets the cause of SMA, made headlines in May as “the most expensive drug ever.” At one point, Novartis, the pharmaceutical company that owns the Zolgensma drugmaker, said the treatment could cost $5 million, NPR reported. Read more at Miami Herald