Emalee was a perfectly happy, healthy, fun-loving 2-year-old little girl, or so we thought, until one day out of nowhere she developed two large “bumps” above her eyes that swelled out like golf balls. Literally overnight they appeared.

We had no idea what they were from; she did not fall or bump into anything, so we took her to the E.R. that night. After hours of waiting and not knowing what was wrong, a CT scan showed they were some type of tumors and she was immediately taken to another hospital for further testing. We were then told after many hours and tests later, that Emalee had cancer, which was Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma. It apparently started as a large tumor in her abdomen and had already spread to her knee, clavicle, bone marrow and head.

Since that terrible day when we were told Emalee had cancer, she has undergone many rounds of chemotherapy, surgery and a stem cell transplant. After her transplant, she came home seemingly well and then woke up one morning unable to walk. This was just devastating. They said she had some type of side effect called a peripheral neuropathy from the high dose chemo. Eventually after 8 long hard weeks of physical therapy and a lot of praying she learned to crawl and then eventually to walk again! Then she entered into the radiation therapy phase of her treatment, which lasted for a month and currently she is having 6 months of an antibody treatment as well as acutance therapy which is downright dreadful on her right now!

She truly is a fighter and has been through way more than any little girl should ever have to go through but continues to be brave and strong and be as normal of a 3 year old as she can be! She loves to play and sing and dance and listen to stories and even torments her big sister Kaylee at times! She has a great sense of humor and always makes you laugh with the crazy things she does! She puts a smile on my face every day, even on the toughest days when I just feel like crying!

It's going to be a very long road for Emalee, but with her determination and will power and all of the prayers, love and support from her family and friends we know she will make it through this! She is a fighter and never lets anything get her down and in our eyes she is a true hero!!!

Written by Mother, Tara Kachurka