MADISONVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky girl who has been fighting cancer celebrated her last chemotherapy treatment Sunday.
Five-year-old Ellie Nelson was diagnosed with a rare form of inoperable brain cancer. Last year, she was granted a trip to Disney World by the Make-A-Wish Foundation — now she's celebrating an even bigger milestone.
A unicorn-themed party helped Ellie mark the achievement in her journey with cancer after more than a year of aggressive chemotherapy.
"With childhood cancer, only 5% is brain cancer, of that 5% only 2% is the type of tumor that she had," Ellie's mother, Andrea, told WFIE.
After treatment, the cysts in the tumor dissipated and are no longer aggressive, Ellie's father Caleb said.
She got to ring the bell marking the end of her chemotherapy treatment.
"It felt exciting!" Ellie said.
"We'll be doing MRIs every so often to just keep tabs on it, but we believe God's taking care of it," Andrea Nelson said.
While Ellie celebrated with family and friends, a photo booth, a bounce house and a real-life unicorn, her parents recalled that it was not an easy journey.
"From when we first found out she was having some issues because she could barely walk, now looking back it's to us nothing short of a miracle," Caleb said. "She's been an inspiration to many, ourselves included, she would go to each treatment with such joy, you know, like, 'What do we have to complain about?'"
The family's faith also played a large part.
"I'm not sure how we would've done it without that full reliance on God, because a 5- year-old in that situation what can you do? God's bigger than that diagnosis, your kid's bigger than that diagnosis," Caleb said.
For now, the Nelsons are taking it day-by-day.
"She gets to be a kid, following her lead, moving forward, being strong and spending that time together," Andrea said.
