This Idaho Falls 2-year-old was diagnosed with cancer days before Christmas. Here’s how you can help

IDAHO FALLS — Amanda Cook knew something was wrong when her daughter Lily fell one day and wasn’t acting like her normal self. She said it wouldn’t usually be a big deal except for the fact that there were “lacerations” on Lily’s backside. 

She and her husband, Steven, live in Idaho Falls with Lily, 2, and Jack, 6. During Thanksgiving, Lily was dancing around.

“She fell. The very next day, after she fell from just standing, she had this large bruise. We got X-rays, but nothing could tell us what was going on,” Amanda explained. “She was tired. She complained that her butt hurt. She couldn’t sit down.”

On Dec. 18, Lily’s pediatrician decided to order a CT scan. It turns out, she had a tumor behind her tailbone and was diagnosed with stage 4 sacrococcygeal cancer, which has metastasized to her lungs. According to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital online, sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT), is a tumor that forms on a fetus’s tailbone.

Amanda said she did prenatal ultrasounds, but the tumor was hidden. There isn’t a history of this in her family. 

Lily started chemotherapy on Dec. 22 at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City and has been a trooper. Doctors and medical staff have given Lily a good prognosis. 

“She is pretty brave,” Amanda said of her daughter. “Now that she is responding well to chemo, we think, because she can sit on her bum now, and she’s not complaining, and she has a ton more energy. Believe it or not … she’s flourishing.”

It’s estimated that Lily could be on chemo for at least six to nine months. Every three weeks, she needs a round of five days of chemo. The Cook family will come home to Idaho for a short time, and then they’ll go back to Utah again. 

Through all of this, the community has shown an outpouring of love. Many people know the family. 

“Everybody loves little Lily. She meets a lot of people. We are very social butterflies, and she has just lit up a lot of people’s world, so it’s pretty cool to see how she has impacted so many other families and kids,” Amanda said. 

Amanda’s sister created an online GoFundMe with an $8,000 goal. As of Thursday afternoon, it had raised over $6,000. 

“We have meals from our neighbors every day. The support has been amazing,” Amanda said. “The way the community has helped us has been so incredible, including our jobs. The lives that we have touched have definitely given back in some way or another.”

Jodi Price is a close friend of Amanda and Steven. She has helped organize a “Love for Lily” benefit dinner and auction on Jan. 24 at the Westbank in Idaho Falls. She wanted to help them during this challenging time. 

“Amanda is a nurse, and she is going to have to take time off work along with Steven, who works out of the INL. So they are going to be looking for a little bit of extra help financially. Just any support that anybody can give … prayers or good thoughts,” Price told EastIdahoNews.com. 

The event will include a pasta dinner, a raffle auction and live auction. All proceeds will benefit Lily’s care. You can buy tickets here.

“They are the sweetest family you will ever meet. They are just the kindest souls. Anybody that knows Steven and Amanda knows little Lily and Jack. They would just do anything for anybody,” Price said. “It’s a terrible thing that happened to good people.”

The post This Idaho Falls 2-year-old was diagnosed with cancer days before Christmas. Here’s how you can help appeared first on East Idaho News.