PHOENIX — At 5 years old, Isabella Melgarejo is a spunky, vivacious and fun ball of energy.
"She's really smart and amazing and she's really an important part of our family," Amanda Lopez said.
Lopez is Isabella's mother. She said that about a year ago she and her husband believed Isabella was showing symptoms of constipation.
"We were in and out of Phoenix Children's for constipation and then one morning when she woke up, she was unresponsive," Lopez said. "She was taken immediately to the ICU where she was diagnosed with a large tumor in her abdomen."
Hearing the word cancer was unexpected. Isabella's mother said it was heartbreaking.
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"I was almost in disbelief, in shock," Lopez said. "It didn't hit me until we were in the ICU what was really happening. My eyes were swollen so much from crying in the ER that by the time we got to the ICU I couldn't see anymore. My eyes were so swollen."
Isabella's father was also worried.
"I was scared, I was scared for her," said Isabella's father Kuan Melgarejo. "It's always a possibility but you never think it's going to be you."
The tumor was pushing against her organs and causing kidney failure. Doctors would have to operate.
"When they were removing it, it broke apart inside her," Lopez said. "So she did have to go through chemotherapy and they told us she was going to have to go through radiation as well."
"A lot of things are going through your head," Melgarejo said. "You want to think the best but you're thinking the worst as well. It's just a lot of thing going through your mind and I'm trying to stay strong for my wife and my daughter."
For months Isabella stayed at Phoenix Children's for treatment. The family celebrated Valentine's Day there, the Super Bowl and other holidays and family events. At one point, Isabella was able to go home but she had now lost her ability to walk. Her family said the toll it had taken emotionally on the family is indescribable.
"She wasn't walking anymore, she wasn't eating anymore, she was in a lot of pain from her abdomen surgery," her mom said. "We lasted about a couple weeks but we ended up back in the hospital again."
By June, Isabella had started aggressive radiation treatment. Her family said for the treatment she was put to sleep every day under anesthesia. There were even days where she was doing both radiation and chemotherapy. Isabella though kept fighting.
"I think every day was very scary," Melgarejo said. "She was always dancing and walking down the hallway like a model and to see her down, it was hard. She had long, thick black hair all the way down to her hip, so even the physical things Cancer took away from her it was a lot to explain."
But the family did what they could to support their daughter.
"We invested in wigs and she got a lot of donated wigs from the hospital," Lopez said.
By the end of July, the family finally received the news they hoped for.
"When we found out she was going to ring the bell they had told us that the scans previously came back okay," Lopez said. "They showed us a picture of the tumor and the area where it was and how much it had cleared. I was happy, almost like a sigh of relief."
In August, Isabella rang that bell at Phoenix Children's. The moment was a celebration.
"To think back at everything that happened to the start from what we had from here to the bell it was emotional because those were the walks we'd do to go back and have the chemotherapy," Melgarejo sad. "To ring the bell they were happy tears."
Thanks to physical therapy, Isabella is now back walking again. In fact, she's running around and back to practicing her model walk. She also said because of this journey her passion is to give back.
"I want to be a nurse," Isabella proclaimed. "Because I want to help kids feel better."
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