MAKING LAS VEGAS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
Middle School students help boy battling cancer
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When a child has cancer, the last thing a family wants to think about is how to pay for their medical expenses. Video by ktnv.com
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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- When a child has cancer, the last thing a family wants to think about is how to pay for their medical care.
Some Junior High schoolers in Las Vegas understand that and they raised thousands of dollars for a little boy fighting liver cancer.
We first met Elliot in the hospital. As if cancer wasn't bad enough, this little boy got the flu and had to be quarantined. So we played and visited from outside his room at UMC.
Elliot's dad, Raymond Ortega told us, "We noticed his abdomen area was growing but he wasn't so we wanted to make sure he's okay. Within a few hours his doctors said you need to go here and here. She knew about that time there was something going on."
Elliot's dad is working in Wichita. Mom's job has the insurance, so she needed to work on the day of our interview. The bottom line is that these loving parents are doing the best they can which is why students at Canarelli Junior High school wanted to help.
Teacher Arleen Andrade says, "Our kids are fantastic and caring and it just shows in what they did. They wouldn't have raised as much money if they didn't truly care about other people in the community."
They raised $3,000 in just a week.
Back at UMC, Elliot's liver transplant was a success. Now he needs to get past the flu and past several rounds of chemotherapy. A long road ahead, but Elliot has a city pulling for him.
After we shot our story with Elliot, he did recover from the flu, but at the time of this posting, he was still in the hospital fighting an infection.
Elliott is alive because of a family out of Fresno California. Their 3-year-old child died and they chose to donate their child's organs. And even though we don't know their names we acknowledge their loss and are thankful Elliot has a new liver.
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