{"id":48355,"date":"2021-02-26T21:56:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T04:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/4-year-old-durango-girl-battles-rare-cancer\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:42:35","slug":"4-year-old-durango-girl-battles-rare-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/4-year-old-durango-girl-battles-rare-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"4-year-old Durango girl battles rare cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Tiarah
Tiarah Lewis swings her daughter, Kaziyah, 4, on Wednesday outside their La Plata County home. Kaziyah was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer, on Christmas Day.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In November, Tiarah Lewis was home from work with a mild case of COVID-19 when she noticed a small bump on the head of her 4-year-old daughter, Kaziyah.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe plays very rough, right. So, I didn\u2019t think too much of it. She probably bumped her head or something jumping around,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

However, on Dec. 23, after Lewis was permitted to return to work \u2013 she\u2019s a cashier at Durango\u2019s Home Depot \u2013 she noticed Kaziyah had a bruised eye \u201clike a black eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like: What\u2019s going on?\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

She took Kaziyah to Pediatric Partners of the Southwest.<\/p>\n

Doctors at Pediatric Partners asked Tiarah to take her toddler to the emergency room at Mercy Regional Medical Center for imaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really hesitant to say anything for sure about what was going on. From there, we just never went home,\u201d Lewis said of her night in the ER.<\/p>\n

About 1 a.m. Christmas Eve, Kaziyah and Tiarah were on a plane en route to be examined at Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado in Aurora.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Day, Kaziyah was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer that commonly arises around the adrenal glands in the abdomen and develops and spreads around immature nerve cells in several areas of the body.<\/p>\n

Neuroblastoma most commonly affects children 5 or younger.<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Hospital wanted to begin treatments immediately \u2013 telling Tiarah her daughter was considered \u201chigh risk\u201d for neuroblastoma.<\/p>\n

\"Tiarah
Tiarah Lewis, holds her daughter Kaziyah, 4, outside their La Plata County home. Kaziyah starts her fourth round of chemotherapy on Thursday at Children&#x2019;s Hospital Colorado in Aurora.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tumors have been discovered around Kaziyah\u2019s brain, heart and abdomen. Doctors believe the original tumor began in Kaziyah\u2019s abdomen and has since metastasized.<\/p>\n

Kaziyah faces 15 months of treatment that will include chemotherapy sessions, bone marrow transplants using her own stem cells taken during the last round of chemotherapy, possible surgeries, radiation treatments and immunotherapy.<\/p>\n

\"Tiarah
Tiarah must give her daughter shots of a blood thinner, Lovenox, 12 hours apart each day, but through it all, Kaziyah has endured.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Since Christmas, life in the Lewis household has been upended as Tiarah concentrates on rounds of chemotherapy treatments for Kaziyah at Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Tiarah\u2019s oldest child, Caeden Wright, 13, has been staying with his father in Iowa. Her eldest daughter, Ny\u2019Laela Lewis, has been staying with her best friend in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Tiarah is planning for her mother to come to Durango after Kaziyah\u2019s fourth round of chemotherapy to help with her children as the family reunites.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterally, the last time my oldest kids saw me was when I said, \u2018We\u2019ll be right back. We\u2019re just running to the doctor.\u2019 Because that\u2019s when I thought I was going to go to the pediatrician and come right home,\u201d Tiarah said. \u201cNow, this has gone through Christmas, New Year\u2019s, her birthday, Valentine\u2019s Day and pretty soon it will be St. Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Kaziyah finished her third round of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

Neuroblastoma is so rare, Kaziyah must be treated in Aurora at Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado. Her chemotherapy rounds last anywhere from 10 days to 15 days. The fourth round of chemo is slated to start Thursday.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s being treated with the chemo drug cisplatin, which must be given intravenously. The side effects can include nausea and vomiting; low blood counts; kidney toxicity; low magnesium; low calcium and low potassium in the blood; and hearing loss.<\/p>\n

After her last chemo session, Kaziyah threw up 12 times in one day. Tiarah said she also has noticed Kaziyah has lost some hearing in her right ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be hard for a grown person to endure much less a 4-year-old, and she\u2019s a new 4. She just turned 4 on Jan. 17,\u201d Tiarah said.<\/p>\n

Tiarah must give her daughter shots of a blood thinner, Lovenox, 12 hours apart each day, but through it all, Kaziyah has endured.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been very brave, very strong. I think she\u2019s braver than I would be,\u201d Tiarah said.<\/p>\n

Tiarah said her employer, Home Depot, has been greatly supportive through it all.<\/p>\n

The firm has a program called the Homer Fund to financially help employees in need, and it has agreed to allow her to take a leave of absence to deal with Kaziyah\u2019s 15-month treatment regimen.<\/p>\n

Home Depot employees regularly bring food for her and Kaziyah when she\u2019s in town between chemo treatments.<\/p>\n

Home Depot\u2019s corporate media relations office declined a request from The Durango Herald<\/em> to talk with managers and employees at the Durango store.<\/p>\n

\"Kaziyah
Kaziyah Lewis explores the outdoors on Wednesday at her La Plata County home. Kaziyah is suffering from neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer. Tumors have been discovered around her brain, heart and abdomen.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Everyday expenses haven\u2019t stopped as the family deals with Kaziyah\u2019s illness.<\/p>\n

Tiarah\u2019s 2008 Honda CR-V needs a brake job, something she needs to attend to promptly, as the vehicle is needed to get over the three mountain passes to get to Aurora.<\/p>\n

The hardest day for Tiarah came after Kaziyah\u2019s first round of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the texture of her hair, it ended up kind of clumping. She has very thick, coarse hair. So it ended up almost like it was starting to dread,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so I just thought instead of trying to brush it, we\u2019ll just help it along. So we just cut it.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019d never even had a haircut. It was her first.\u201d<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Help available to families with severely ill kids<\/h4>\n

Given the rural nature of Durango, a support network has emerged to help families like Tiarah Lewis\u2019 with expenses that come in dealing with children with complex medical conditions.
\n Dr. Kelly Miller, a pediatrician with
\n Pediatric Partners of the Southwest
\n , who helps coordinate services for families, said the first option is to keep children close to home \u2013 something that\u2019s become more practical with the rise of telemedicine.
\n Unfortunately, for the most severe medical conditions, like the neuroblastoma Tiarah\u2019s daughter, Kaziyah, is battling, telemedicine cannot replace in-person medical treatments.
\n \u201cHer burden of disease and the complexity and intensity of her chemo is best done at Children\u2019s Hospital,\u201d Miller said.
\n More common forms of childhood cancer, leukemia and lymphomas, can be treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center, Miller said, and that helps reduce travel to the Front Range.
\n Economic support for families in Southwest Colorado is also available.
\n The Durango Derailers
\n raises more than $50,000 a year to help support families with travel expenses, providing prepaid cards for the costs of gas, hotel stays and meals.
\n AeroAngel
\n and aviation charity based in Denver, and
\n Angel Flight
\n , a similar service based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, can be used for non-urgent trips scheduled to the Front Range.
\n Colorado families served by Medicaid can use
\n IntelliRide
\n for car rides to their medical appointments.
\n Southwest Colorado is also graced with an anonymous donor who gives grants of up to $5,000 to families with children suffering from serious medical conditions, Miller said.
\n Anyone interested about services offered to families with children suffering from complex medical conditions can call Miller at Pediatric Partners of the Southwest at 375-0100.
\n parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

To help<\/h4>\n

Several online venues are available to help financially support the Lewis family as Kaziyah battles neuroblastoma:
\n Caring for Kaziyah<\/a>
\n , a GoFundMe page has raised $5,085 with a $10,000 goal.
\n Conquer Cancer with Zuzu<\/a>
\n , a Facebook donation page has raised $110 with a goal of $5,000.
\n Kaziyah\u2019s List<\/a>
\n , a wish list for Kaziyah on Amazon.
\n Tiarah Lewis also has a
\n Facebook page, Conquer Cancer with Zuzu
\n , and an
\n Instagram page Conquer Cancer with Zuzu
\n , where she posts updates about Kaziyah and her treatments.
\n People can also donate directly to the Lewis family using PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Facebook Pay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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