Monday, September 29, 2014

5-Year-Old Gives Pep Talk About Fighting Cancer To Help Other Kids Feel Brave

Hannah Higgins is 5 years old, and she might just be the world's tiniest motivational speaker.



Armed with an adorable smile and a vocabulary peppered with medical terminology from her past year in treatment for kidney cancer, the kindergartener made a "cancer commercial" a few months ago with the help of her parents.



"She approached us one day and said she wanted to do a 'commercial' to explain to other kids what they can expect when going through cancer," wrote Hannah's dad, Joshua Higgins, who uploaded the video to YouTube last week.



"I want to be on TV a lot and I want to be on the newspaper so that people can see how brave I've been during cancer," Hannah explains in the video, adding her experiences might inspire others to be brave as well.



Doctors diagnosed Hannah with an advanced stage bilateral Wilms tumor, or nephroblastoma, in February 2014 at the age of four. Throughout her treatment, mom Kristen Higgins says, Hannah impressed her doctors at San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital with her strength and resolve -- not to mention her sing-alongs to the "Frozen" soundtrack.



"During radiation she shocked the anesthesiologists as being able to stay still for treatment, something they told her adults have a hard time doing," Kristen Higgins told HuffPost in an email. "She sung her little heart out and we could hear her out in the control booth! She also was able to perform all of her MRIs unsedated, something unusual for a kid her age, too."



Hannah, who finished chemotherapy in August with no indications of the disease, recently gave a presentation to her kindergarten class, alongside a Rady child life specialist, about her fight with cancer. She even showed off her surgical scars to the other children by tugging up her shirt a little.



"She welcomes questions about her appearance and is able to explain to kids and adults alike why her hair fell out and how it is growing back now that she is no longer receiving the 'chemo medicine,'" Kristen wrote, describing her daughter as miraculous and "incredibly brave."



Hannah, who has a few more years of MRI scan check-ins to go before she's declared fully cancer-free, is considering following in her dad's footsteps with a career in medicine. Whatever field she picks, her patients are sure to benefit from her inspiring pep talks.



"If you have cancer, don't worry," she says in the video. "'Cause I am brave and you can be brave also."



h/t DesignTaxi



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