6-year-old is only child to ever survive relapse of type of cancer

The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.) (MCT) - Entering Aleigha Sweet's home, all you could see was a streak of pink across the room. Playing with the cat, then coloring, then teasing her sisters, then back to the cat. You'd never have known this 6-year-old had been battling cancer for the past 2˝ years.

And there was no mistake in that statement _ Aleigha Sweet is now cancer-free.

On Tuesday, Aleigha was told by doctors that the cancer could no longer be found in her system. She amazed doctors and surprised her family, who had been told she would not live past November. But Aleigha always believed she would conquer this disease.

"They kept telling her, 'Cancer is going to take you,'" her father, Tom, recalled Wednesday as the family sat around their living room enjoying a snow day. "She looked at them and said, 'You just don't know what you're talking about."" And she was right.

After a negative scan at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis last week, doctors told the family that Aleigha is the only child to ever survive a relapse of her type of cancer.

On Aug. 11, 2006, Aleigha was diagnosed with pleuropulmonary blastomas (PPB) and rhabdomyosarcoma . PPB is a rare and aggressive type of cancer that attacks the lungs, while rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer that affects the soft tissues between the skin and bones. By that November, the cancer had become dormant, but doctors were still fearful of its return. One year later, it did.

The cancer began attacking her trachea, and doctors gave her only one year to live. Her family, and most of all Aleigha, was determined to beat this, so doctors put her in a clinical trial that proved the ticket to her success.

"We were thanking the doctor. He said, 'Don't thank me. You're just a true miracle,'" Tom Sweet said.

Aleigha isn't quite out of the woods yet, though. Doctors don't say cancer patients are in remission until at least five years have passed, and with her type of cancer, it may be even longer.

"We will be cured," her mother, Angie, said with confidence. "We're just not going to count down days to it. We're just going to take one day at a time." For now, the family will have to transition to a "normal" way of life. It will be an adjustment to see their child attend school, play with friends and grow hair.

"She's back to the before-cancer kid now," Tom Sweet said as he watched his daughter race across the room, playing as a 6-year-old should. "The one thing we have to change is not living like there's no tomorrow." Even though hospital supplies still sat in the corner of the room and only her eyebrows have truly grown back, cancer is no longer a daily fight for this family of five.

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"It will always be on our mind," Tom Sweet said. But for the time being, it's no longer a reality.

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© 2009, The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.).