Miracle Moment: 6-year-old girl who triumphed over cancer goes to Washington

A 6-year-old girl who beat cancer went to Washington D.C. to help lobby for clinical trials for pediatric cancer treatments.

Gianna Reyes goes to Golf Elementary. A little girl who’d much rather be a black belt than a fairy princess.

“She was at her Jiu Jitsu class, and she was telling me that her leg hurt,” said Kathy Reyes, Gianna’s mother, “so at first, I really didn’t think much of it, but then the next day, I took her to the park and she started playing with her brother, and she said it hurt again, and she started limping.”

Doctors did an X-ray and knew they were dealing with something very serious. The Reyes’ immediately headed to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, where doctors diagnosed Gianna with a bone cancer called osteosarcoma.

By the time they reached the hospital, the cancer had metastasized to Gianna’s lung. She did 18 rounds of chemo for nine months. Doctors also removed Gianna’s femur and knee and replaced it with a metal prosthetic.

Gianna had to learn to walk again and then get ready for a second surgery.

“Since it had metastasized to her lungs, she had a 12-hour lung surgery where they went in and by hand took out every nodule,” said Kathy Reyes.

That operation took place as Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida. Thankfully, the family’s home in Cape Coral fared well. Gianna is now more than a year in remission.

Gianna also joined other child cancer survivors to lobby our lawmakers in Washington to expand clinical trials for pediatric cancer treatments, using her voice to help other kids now and in the future.