Cancer is one of the prime reasons for human deaths in the world currently and when it takes away a young life, the loss is far greater than any other life. There are many instances where kids are the ones taken away from their families due to one disease or another. This story is about a girl, who was taken away due a form of cancer, which formed tumors everywhere in her body.
The girl was Kylie Rowand, who spent half of her 2 year old life battling with cancer, yet it didn’t diminish her charisma and whoever met her or hugged her, remember her for being a playful child who would make everyone laugh. Despite being taken away at the age of 2, her parents have made sure that she lives on in the memories of everyone in a very kind way, which ensures her legacy lives long.
The toddler, whose life was taken away at such a young age, was Kylie Elizabeth Rowand. The child’s birth fulfilled the wishes of Bree and Luke Rowand of becoming parents. The family lived in Alpine, California, near San Diego. Little did they know that little bundle of joy would have to fight half her already short life to stay alive. “I never knew how much I could truly love somebody until my daughter was born," said her father, Luke Rowand.
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Just at the age of 19 months, the parents heard a scream from Kylie and immediately knew something was wrong. She was immediately taken to the hospital when she could not be consoled at home. Her eye had swollen and ER immediately admitted her and took her for a series of tests to be conducted. The tests confirmed something bigger and fatal, as it turned out that Kylie had tumors all over her body and had a form of cancer known as neuroblastoma. She was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma and after that she underwent 2 brain bleeds and 10 different surgeries.
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But unfortunately, after fighting the disease for 14 months, Kylie said goodbye to this world at the age of 2 years on Feb 7, 2015.
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Kylie’s parents had started a Facebook page titled, “Prayer for Kylie,” to keep friends and family updated about her condition. The page went viral and got more than 110,000 likes and followers. The cancer that took Kylie’s life was neuroblastoma, which is one of the most common types of cancer that affects infants, with around 650 cases per year in the US alone. The tumors originate in the adrenal glands and places like nerve tissues in the neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis. The low risk disease means the tumors are benign and can be removed in a series of surgeries. But the high risk means that mostly the disease has reached the terminal stage and patient’s life will be extremely difficult to save.
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Kylie’s parents decided to carry on the memory and spirit of Kylie in the form of the Kylie Rowand Foundation charity. It is a nonprofit charity that works to raise money for pediatric cancer and helps out families in their time of difficulties like Rowands faced.
Rowands’ friends set up a GoFundMe page in order to cover for the medical expenses of their child. Friends, family and strangers contributed to more than $100,000 for Kylie’s treatment. The Kylie Rowand Foundation gives away gift baskets to cancer patients and helps pay for gas, rent and food bills of the families who have kids battling with cancer. "You're trying to save your child's life. You shouldn't have to worry about where you're going to get your food or whether you'll lose your house," Bree Rowand said.
Their angel may have left this world, but the parents are making sure that she remains in the hearts of the people through this charity.
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