Saint Teresa School, Pawtucket, and The RI Pink Heals celebrated Leilani Favela, a third grade student at Saint Teresa School and cancer survivor. Recently, the RI Pink Heals came to the school to honor Leilani with a flower delivery.
All students and faculty wore pink and raised $650 donated to the RI Pink Heals. Leilani was diagnosed with kidney cancer when she was 5 years old. She went through treatment where she had two surgeries, one to remove her left kidney and the tumor. At the age of 7, only a few months after her first treatment ended, Leilani had a relapse and her cancer returned. She went through another surgery in the same place as her first, to remove the second cancer tumor and also her adrenal gland.
This time, she went on a high risk treatment with more chemotherapy and also radiation.
Now, she has not had any signs of cancer, but still battles with the effects it has had on her. Her mother Charlean Favela says her daughter “continues to always smile and see the best in life and in people.”
