Meet Ellia

This is the story of Ellia, our 2024 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals local Champion. We are so grateful to Ellia and her family for their willingness to share their story to demonstrate the impact that CMN Hospitals fundraising has on families like theirs.

For the first three years of her life, Ellia was “the kid who never got sick.”

“We never worried about her,” says Jenna, Ellia’s mom. “She was always very spunky and funny and had this incredibly dynamic personality. We knew from the start she was a fighter.”

But when Ellia was 3 years old, she developed a fever and became lethargic. Jenna took her to a walk-in clinic where she was prescribed antibiotics for an ear infection. A few days later, Ellia woke up with a rash on her arms and legs, and red dots on her neck.

Jenna brought Ellia to their pediatrician, who sent them to Seattle Children’s Emergency Department for urgent blood testing. Ellia’s dad, Nathan, left work to meet them there.

Ellia’s parents, both with backgrounds in cancer research, suspected that their daughter might be diagnosed with pediatric leukemia. Their fears were confirmed when they were told that Ellia’s condition was likely caused by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Ellia began chemotherapy with hopes that her body would respond to the treatment. Her oncologist, Dr. Todd Cooper, is also the director of Seattle Children’s High-Risk Leukemia Program. Thankfully, Ellia responded well to chemotherapy and went into remission. However, Ellia required an additional two years of follow-up treatment that included high-dose steroids and chemotherapy. Dr. Cooper was joined by Dr. Marie Bleakley, a pediatric bone marrow transplant specialist at Seattle Children’s, in designing Ellia’s treatment program.

During Ellia’s treatment, her parents connected with other families who had a child with leukemia. Some lived far from the hospital, requiring that they travel long distances for treatment. Others struggled financially. As a result of their own good fortune with Ellia’s treatment response, her family provided a seed donation of $25,000 to establish a research fund in Ellia’s name and to kick start the FC Community Campaign raising more than $200,000 for the Seattle Children’s High-Risk Leukemia Program, supporting next-generation molecular sequencing to profile relapsed patients at the genetic level.

Ellia is now a healthy, smart, vivacious 10-year-old. She’s been in remission for seven years.

“She is a force!” mom Jenna said. “She has boundless energy and makes me laugh every day. I love that she is so confident and sure of herself. She brings so much joy to our family!”

“Seattle Children’s not only provided first-class care for our child, the clinicians showed us compassion, too,” dad Nathan says. “They gave us strength when we needed it most. We will never forget the nights when Ellia was struggling and a nurse or child life specialist knew how to make things better for her. That made it better for all of us. We never doubted Seattle Children’s was the right place to be, and we are eternally grateful that Ellia received her care there.”