El Paso teen’s fight against cancer inspires other kids; Dedication of room at EP Children’s Hospital
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso Foundation had a special ceremony on Sept. 4th at El Paso Children's Hospital by dedicating a room in the name of 2-time cancer survivor Hailee Ozaeta. It was part of a $25,000 donation to help kickoff Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Hailee Ozaeta can't couldn't contain her emotions, as she cried in the arms of her father while she and her family congregated around the room dedicated in her name at El Paso Children's Hospital.
"They've helped save my life so many time," said 15-year-old Hailey.
As a kid who suffered mightily from cancer, she was thrilled to join dozens of others for the ceremony, including U.S. veterans, law enforcement, and scores of volunteers as the room she spent countless hours in as a patient was given the official name in her honor saying: "Do Not Fear, For I Am With You -Isaiah 4:10, Hailee & The Ozaeta Family."
Hailee's mother, Sandra Ozaeta, said, "So this is an honor for us to be able to give back to the hospital that helped save her life," after talking about the $25,000 dollar donation to El Paso Children's Hospital.
Hailee is also grateful for her little sister, Josie, who helped save her life by being her bone marrow donor.
When ABC-7's Paul Cicala asked Josie if she felt like a hero for donating the life-saving bone marrow, she answered, "Yes, because I love my sister, and I've done everything for her. When she's in her ups and downs, I always cheer her up."
Hailee told ABC-7's Paul Cicala: "(El Paso Children's Hospital) means so much to me honestly, through mental and physical (struggles). They first help save my life. I'm here because of them, Me and my family have been through so many things together that I never expected. For them to get that room that I was first diagnosed in, I'm just so blessed, that they were able to do that for us," added Hailee with a huge smile on her face as members of the Official American Legion Riders Chapter 36 El Paso surrounded her in support.
"We are incredibly grateful to Hailee’s family for their generosity and for choosing to honor her journey in such a meaningful way," said Dr. B. Abigail Tarango, Executive Director of the El Paso Children’s Foundation. "Their contribution will have a lasting impact on the lives of many children and families who walk through these doors."
The non-profit also pointed out that the donation marks the beginning of a series of events planned by the El Paso Children’s Hospital Foundation throughout September to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer care and research.
People, Places & Paul stories can be seen periodically on KVIA ABC-7 and features many of the movers and shakers in our borderland.
ABC-7's Stephanie Valle also featured Hailee in a story back in 2019. You can see it here.
In Stephanie Valle's story, she touched on how it was in March of 2018, when Hailee was 8-years-old, and she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It's a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow that affects white blood cells. HERE'S MORE FROM STEPHANIE VALLE'S 2019 REPORT:
“I felt very sick. I felt weak,” Hailee told Valle at the time. “I felt like a weight on me. I would get a lot of headaches.
Her mother, Sandra Ozaeta, told ABC-7 that when doctors confirmed Hailee’s diagnosis, she didn’t tell her daughter.
“How do you tell your 8-year-old that she has cancer?” Sandra said.
But Hailee told ABC-7 that she learned anyway, through dreams based in her faith.
“There was this dark tunnel and I was walking to it,” Hailee said. “And there was this big light at the end. I see the Virgin Mary and she is in a burgundy thing with green, with her hands like this,” she said, gesturing with her palms up in her lap. “She didn’t use the word ‘cancer,’ but something told me in my heart that I had it,” Hailee said. “She was just telling me how I had to keep strong.”
“I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t crying, I wasn’t anything,” she added. “I just felt peaceful, and I knew that I was going to be OK. I just had that faith in me.”
Hailee said she did keep strong through chemotherapy and hair loss, but that kidney failure two months into her intense treatment brought another dream of a heavenly encounter.
“I had another dream,” Hailee told ABC-7. “There was God, but he was a figure of light.”
She described seeing stairs blanketed with clouds and eating at a banquet with angels.
“We all ate tamales and Takis,” she said, laughing.
But then she said the tone of the dream turned more serious.
“This little (angel) broke his wing, and God touched it,” she said. “I was like, ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ And God said, ‘The same thing that I’m going to do to you.’ So he touched my kidneys. And that’s when I woke up.”
She said that when she awoke, she was able to use the restroom — something that hadn’t been possible for a whole day due to her kidney failure.
In June 2018, her scans came back clean. She was cancer-free.
That summer, she attended a weeklong camp organized by Candlelighters of El Paso for kids who are battling or who overcame cancer.
“That was her first step out of the hospital,” Sandra said. “She was able to be a kid for a whole week.”
When Hailee talked about camp, her face lit up. “My favorite thing was at the end — the dance. It was really fun this year,” she said while laughing.
With a year left of treatment, the fifth grader is dreaming of her future.
“I want to work at the children’s hospital for kids that have cancer,” Hailee said. “Now that I’ve been through this, I want to help other kids and tell my story to them and tell them that everything’s going to be OK.”
Candlelighters of El Paso supports families who are fighting childhood cancer. In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Candlelighters is hosting the Walk of Hope for families of fighters, survivors, and those who who lost their battle with cancer.
