Seven-Year-Old Girl Fighting Cancer

OTSEGO (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A West Michigan family says traditional treatments for fighting cancer aren't getting the job done for their seven year old.

The family got the news last summer. Their youngest child had a cancerous tumor the size of a golf ball. The family is now asking for the community's help in getting the care she needs.

"Definitely your heart drops and if you could take it from the child, you would," said the girl's father, Doug Hatten.

The doctors told Hatten his daughter Kaylea had cancer last July. She had experienced balance problems and then a visit to the ER revealed the cause: an egg-shaped tumor on Kaylea's brain stem.

Radiation helped shrink the cancer, but doctors still say the seven year old may not live another year. The second-grader hasn't attended school since February. Her family is now looking to raise money for an experimental treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Insurance won't cover a cost that could approach $70,000, but her father realizes this may be Kaylea's last hope.

"She's not doing real good, I mean, she's hanging in there, but it's hard on her, really hard, she's not able to do, to have a normal life," said Hatten.

The family has set up an account for donations at any Charter One Bank. It's under her name Kaylea Hatten.

The treatment in Arizona will last eight to ten weeks. The family says the method has had success in eliminating other cancerous tumors like Kaylea's.