Natalia Was Super-ready to Be Done With Cancer
“She knows where to go, she knows the nurses, she knows the routine and sees other kids going through the same things,” says Trish Manzanedo. “She feels at home here.”
Trish is referring to her 6-year-old daughter, Natalia, who has been fighting high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia since 2014. Although she’s receiving the best care possible from the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, it hasn’t always been pleasant for Natalia. After all, she has cancer and there is nothing pleasant about that. But there is a bright light, and that’s Charlie and his friends.
Charlie, a small Shih Tzu, and his owner are volunteers in the Amerman Family Foundation Dog Therapy Program at CHLA—and were the first of many “bright lights” to visit Natalia during her stays. As a huge animal lover who hopes to one day be a veterinarian, Natalia was immediately drawn to the program, which brings comfort and cheer to patients and families through more than 6,000 bedside visits a year.
“It’s hard to overstate what a difference a dog can make, not just to a child but to a child’s family,” says Kate Buhrmaster, program coordinator. “That’s what is really rewarding. We can often turn a rough morning completely around, just with a simple dog visit.”
Last Halloween, Natalia became our bright light. Donning a pink, sparkly Supergirl costume, she proudly stood by Marley, a therapy dog dressed as Superdog, and posed for the camera. The photo, which was posted on CHLA’s social media channels, became an inspiration to many.
“She was ready to fly out of there, her and the dog,” says Trish, laughing. “She was Supergirl. That was her way of saying that she’s got cancer, but cancer doesn’t have her.”
On Nov. 16, 2014, cancer truly no longer had Natalia. “Her bone marrow came back negative on my birthday,” says Trish. “It was the best present I could ask for.”
These days, Natalia gets to spend a lot more time with her menagerie of pets at home, including a miniature Australian shepherd, Kobe; a cat, Bella; two bearded dragon lizards; and a large aquarium of fish. She is also enjoying just being a normal 6-year-old.
“I like walking and playing with the dogs, holding the lizards and feeding the horses down the street the whole stick of carrot, except for the green part,” says Natalia.
Although Natalia is going back to school and is back at home, she is still going through a maintenance phase of treatment since her cancer is considered high-risk. Once a month, she visits the Infusion Center at CHLA to get IV chemotherapy and a lumbar puncture—and yes, to also visit the therapy dogs.
“We try to catch them in the hallway,” says Trish. “We don’t want to take the dogs away from the inpatient kids. If we catch them, we drop everything to spend time with the dog.”
As much as Natalia enjoys visiting her furry friends at the hospital, her family is looking forward to the day they can put this experience behind them.
“When this is all done, we’re going to have a huge party,” says Trish.
