1-year-old diagnosed with extremely rare form of cancer while visiting eastern Idaho - East Idaho News
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1-year-old diagnosed with extremely rare form of cancer while visiting eastern Idaho

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REXBURG — A family vacation turned into a traumatic experience for the parents of a 14-month-old baby girl.

Theo and Kirsten Smith met while attending Brigham Young University-Idaho and currently live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While visiting Theo’s family in Rexburg with their daughter, Zoe, they noticed something was wrong.

Zoe wasn’t sleeping well, had low-grade fevers, didn’t want to play with her toys and needed to constantly be held.

“At first, we thought it could just be adjusting to the new environment. We gave her a couple of days to get over that because we had been there for Thanksgiving and for Christmas and it took her a couple of days both times,” Kirsten explained. “But she never seemed to fully adjust.”

After ruling out teething, they took her to a doctor who diagnosed Zoe with an ear infection and sent her home with antibiotics. But after finishing the medication two weeks ago, Zoe hadn’t made any improvements. That’s when she was taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

“It was just the simple blood work that needed to be done to find out that Zoe’s white blood cells were through the roof,” Kirsten said. “We were hearing that and knowing it was bad, but it didn’t really mean anything to us without medical training. Finally, the doctor said, ‘This is what we see in patients with leukemia.'”

Zoe Smith Airlifted
Zoe being loaded onto the helicopter to be airlifted to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City. | Courtesy Kirsten Smith

Zoe was airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City where she was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia – a type of leukemia typically seen in adults.

“Instead of being in the chronic phase that can be treated with an oral medication, it’s in what’s called a blast crisis,” she said. “This means that this mutation is now causing another form of leukemia to happen. Before they can treat this kind of CML (Chronic Myeloid Leukemia), they need to get rid of all the other cancer cells in her blood.”

Kirsten said worldwide, there’s only been seven cases like this in the past 15 years.

Zoe’s currently undergoing chemotherapy and has about a month left of it. She will hopefully be released this week to do outpatient chemotherapy, Kirsten said, but the Smith family will need to stay within an hour of the hospital for treatments.

Once chemotherapy is complete, Zoe will need a bone marrow transplant.

“That weighs heavy on us because it’s expensive and it’s a scary procedure,” Kirsten said. “It involves very high levels of chemotherapy, such to the point that Zoe probably won’t be able to have her own kids. It does a lot to your body.”

Kirsten Smith
Kirsten holding Zoe while she sleeps. | Courtesy Kirsten Smith

Due to her diagnosis happening during a global pandemic, Kirsten stays at the hospital with Zoe, but Theo has limited access because of current policies.

There’s also a blood shortage across the country right now. Kirsten said Zoe is receiving the blood and platelets she needs but is having to wait longer than normal to get them.

Kirsten encourages anybody healthy and able to donate blood for those in need to click here.

Despite the unexpected and challenging times, Kirsten said Zoe’s handling it well. The medications make her tired and cause mood swings, but she still wants to go out in the hospital hallway and blow kisses and wave to everybody she passes.

“You can tell that she has so much fight because she always ends up shining her little light through at some point during the day,” Kirsten said.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with the financial burdens. Click here for information. Donations are also being accepted through Venmo to Theo-Smith-1.

Theo Smith
Theo giving Zoe a kiss in the hospital. | Courtesy Kirsten Smith
Zoe Smith 2
Zoe on her first birthday that took place about a month before being diagnosed with Leukemia. | Courtesy Kirsten Smith

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