Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — It's Child Cancer Awareness Month, and a Utah mother is sharing her story about her daughter beating cancer — and then relapsing almost two years later.
With the second relapse, doctors said Brielle Bird has a 5% survival rate. She has already overcome a lot.
Time is the biggest gift for her mother, Kendra Bird, who uses every minute to find a cure for her precious daughter, who was first diagnosed in 2020, when she was 4 years old, with a fast-spreading cancer — neuroblastoma.
She's already gone through six rounds of chemotherapy treatments, two bone marrow transplants and 12 rounds of radiation.
"I mean it was absolutely terrible and it's so scary," Kendra Bird said.
Two years later, Brielle rang the bell that symbolized the cancer was gone.
"We went 22 months cancer-free," Kendra Bird said. "We just kind of lived life, and we soaked it all in."
Until Jan. 17, when the cancer was back.
"The second time around was even more devastating than the first time — if that's at all possible," Kendra Bird said.
Her little girl would have to keep on fighting.
"I like my hair. I didn't want to lose it for the second time," Brielle said.
Traditional routes of chemotherapy and immunotherapy are no longer working and, with unknown treatment related to relapse, the family is searching for a miracle.
"We're looking at other places in New York, Philadelphia, California, Colorado. Anywhere that could possibly have answers." The Birds have joined other families this month to raise funds and awareness of childhood cancers.
"That's why we sport our gold," Kendra Bird said. Through their online community, they can help kids like Brielle at Primary Children's Hospital.
While they wait for a cure, the Birds will help lift others.
"As much as you would never want to watch your child suffer and go through cancer, at the same time, the opportunity that we've been given to show the world that God is good and that there are so many incredible people," Kendra Bird told KSL-TV.
You can follow Brielle's journey on Instagram.
