Elise Scott is the happy, smiling 3-year-old girl who rode her pony, Keyoni, in the Feather Fiesta Days Parade this year.
Within two weeks, she and her pony were both diagnosed with cancer.
The pony was a present for her third birthday on Dec. 14, 2008.
During the parade, Elise threw candy to children as she rode Keyoni beside her dad, Ronny Scott, and her mother, Tanya Owens, who also rode in the parade.
"Everyone probably saw her in the parade with the Oroville Pageant Riders," Owens said. "She was smiling and waving to people the whole time."
"It's amazing how fast life can change," Owens said.
Keyoni became sick soon after the parade, and he was diagnosed with leukemia.
One night while Keyoni was away at the veterinarian hospital, Elise became sick too. She had blood in her urine, a temperature and nausea.
Her parents took her to the emergency room at Oroville Hospital.
Early the next morning, doctors said she had Wilms' tumor, also known as nephroblastoma, a rare kidney cancer that usually occurs in young children.
She was taken by ambulance to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento where the tumor and one kidney was removed.
Back at home, Elise and Keyoni were reunited, and she rides the pony in her backyard in Thermalito.
Elise will undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments until December.
Her hair just started falling out.
When she wakes up every morning, she picks strands of hair off her pillow.
"She says,
'Mommy I'm going to look like a boy,'" Owens said. "I tell her, 'You're too pretty to look like a boy.'"
Elise knows her hair will grow back when her treatments end, and she often says she wishes she weren't sick any more.
Owens also looks forward to December when the treatments are over and a new year begins on Elise's fourth birthday.
Owens said the doctors say she has a 90 percent chance of beating the cancer.
"Her prognosis is very good," Owens said.
Owens had to take a six-month leave from work, until Elise finishes chemo and radiation.
Elise has done very well her mother said, but she tires easily. She likes to lie on the couch and watch "Little Bear" cartoons.
Owen's mother, Mary Griffin, lives a block away, and she comes often to help with Elise and keep everyone's morale up.
"My family has been amazing," Owens said. "Without my family, I don't think I could get through this."
Although Owens has insurance, she has to pay $2,500, and the family has to live on one salary, until she can return to work.
Griffin said they have had lots of support from people in the community also.
The women at Element Hair Studio on Mitchell Avenue had a cut-a-thon and barbecue on July 11. All proceeds went into Elise Scott's Recovery Fund at Butte Community Bank.
Griffin said other families who have children with cancer attended the fundraiser to support them.
"I think that's one good thing that has come out of this is to see how caring and supportive people have been," Griffin said. "Our hearts go out to other families who are in the same situation."
Griffin has five sisters who are having a yard sale fundraiser from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 7 and 8 at 2415 Oro Quincy Hwy.
When her family talks about the illness, Elise becomes quiet and acts like she's too busy to talk or listen. On Wednesday, she took her napkin and began busily wiping the kitchen table.
After a while, she sat down at the table and sipped more fruit juice.
Finally she looked up and stoically said, "The tumor is very far away now. When you get juice in your body, the tumor floats away, and it can't come back because tumors don't have boats."
Griffin said Elise has changed since she has become sick. She's quieter and less outgoing with strangers.
Also people have been bringing her a lot of presents, which she evidently thinks is a good idea.
She hides presents and other items in her room, and gives everyone a present who comes to the house.
When this reporter was about to leave, Elise slipped quietly up behind her and placed a sprig of bright pink silk flowers by her purse with a shy smile and ran away.
Griffin can be contacted at orovillemary@aol.com.
Staff writer Mary Weston can be reached at 533-3135 or mweston@orovillemr.com. To see more of the Oroville Mercury-Register or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.orovillemr.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Oroville Mercury-Register, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Oroville Mercury-Register, Calif.