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Young girl battles childhood cancer
The American Cancer Society projects that more than 9,000 children under 20 will be diagnosed with some form of cancer by the end of the year. Many will not even reach the age of five. That is the case for one little girl named Noa, who is fighting hard — with some help — to beat the illness.
DAWSONVILLE, Ga. - In Dawson County, a tight-knit community is rallying behind a 2-year-old girl battling leukemia, showing just how far neighbors will go to help one of their own.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Noa Ramirez was diagnosed last summer with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood leukemia. Her parents, Lucas and Kayleigh Ramirez, say the diagnosis came as a shock when she was only 16 months old.
What they're saying:
"The only word I heard was cancer," her father said. "I went down to a dark place. Oh my goodness, how many more days do we have?"
Her mother remembers the moment she knew something was wrong. "The day she was diagnosed she slept in. Very unusual for her. She wouldn’t wake up," Kayleigh said.
Since then, Noa has endured tough days filled with nausea, but her family says her energy and spirit never waver. "She is just 100% 100 mph all the time. She is the strongest little girl I’ve met in my life," Lucas said.
The Ramirez family faced difficult choices about treatment. Initially hesitant about a trial chemotherapy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta called the Blina Backpack — a 28-day infusion carried in a small pump — they ultimately agreed.
"It has a pump, a bag of chemo. It comes up to her chest port, and her chest port has access 24 hours, seven days a week," Kayleigh explained. "I said, ‘You’re not going to experiment on her.’"
That treatment, now standard care, raised Noa’s survival chances to 95%.
What's next:
Meanwhile, the Dawsonville community has shown up in remarkable ways: raising money through tattoos, organizing a drive-by birthday celebration, and even donating paid time off to the family.
Next summer, Noa is expected to ring the hospital’s cancer-free bell, a milestone her parents say will reflect not only her strength but also the resilience of their family and community.
"She’s had a lot of tough days," Kayleigh said. "But we’ve learned how strong we are, how strong our community is, and how strong our little girl is."
Noa Strong.
The Source: FOX 5's Kevyn Stewart spoke with the Ramirez family for this article.