NEWTON, Texas — A California nonprofit is helping a Newton County family celebrate after their 6-year old-daughter became cancer free.
Kathryn Lewis was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a type of cancer that targets blood, when she was only 4-years-old. Last week she rang the bell at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston to celebrate the end of her treatment.
This comes the same month as her seventh birthday and a California nonprofit wants to make sure it's a birthday she'll never forget.
In October 2021, the Lewis family recieved the news of Kathryn's diagnosis.
"As soon as we got the labs back, our doctor pediatrician here called and said, go to Houston. We went straight in. A doctor came in before a nurse ever did. He came in and asked what our expectation was and what we were thinking. And I knew it was some form of cancer," said Brittany Lewis, Kathryn's mother.
Brittany's fears were confirmed, and after two and half years of back and forth from their Newton County home to Texas Children's, Kathryn finally won her battle against cancer.
"On January 2, 2024, Kathryn took her last chemo pill, and on January 5, 2024, she rang the bell that she has finished with treatment," Brittany said.
Now Kathryn is now 6-years-old and in first grade at Newton Elementary. With her new remission status, her mom says her diagnosis never stopped her anyways.
"She's in school now in first grade, and doing great. She's in the A Honor Roll, does exceptionally well, and she has her little friends that she plays with and, you know, just rocks on day by day," said Brittany.
This is when "Campaign One At A Time", a nonprofit based in California, stepped in. They discovered Kathryn's story and decided to create a fundraiser to send her family to Disney World on her seventh birthday, which is on January 30.
The family needs $5,000 to send go on the trip.
"We're in the process of looking at that dream coming true, hopefully by her birthday is what the goal is for January 30. The goal is to be able to say we've reached our fundraising goal of $5,000," Brittany said.
For Kathryn, there's only one reason why she wants to go to Disney.
"It would just be really cool," she said.