5-year-old girl battling stage 4 cancer for the second time

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Chloe Rochester is just 5 years old, and for the second time in her life she is battling stage 4 cancer at UVA Children’s Hospital.

Chloe’s story starts when she was just three years old. She found out she had cancer, ended up beating it, but it returned again a few months later.

“Whether that miracle happens through it just being just the right meds and we’re able to do this, or God just something that we can’t explain or don’t understand. We don’t care. We would just like to see her healed,” said Chloe’s dad, Isaac Rochester.

Chloe’s parent, Angela and Isaac, say in February 2023, they took their daughter to UVA for what they thought could be appendicitis, instead they got news no parent wants to hear.

“Imaging showed that it wasn’t, that we had a huge mass... a Wilms tumor,” said Isaac Rochester.

After a surgery to remove the tumor and rounds of treatment, Chloe’s scans were coming back clean. The family actually got to leave the hospital for a little bit, until Chloe started having pain again.

“Actually, started the day we left to go on vacation,” Isaac Rochester said. “We were going to take her to Ocean City. And so, we drove over there. She started acting like she was uncomfortable, and so we ended up driving through the night, just canceling the vacation. Drove here.”

The Rochesters say they found out that basically a tumor had burst like an abscess in Chloe’s body and cancer cells had been spread all into her abdomen.

“Wilms can... the first place that it spreads is to the lungs. So far, her lungs are clear, but her abdomen, we’ve got the two big tumors, and then they said that they’re also smaller tumors wanting to start in her abdomen,” Angela Rochester said.

The plan now is to find a way to shrink the tumors so they can eventually be taken out.

“We would love to be able to do a surgery. Unfortunately, it’s not looking like that’s going to be something that is going to happen, because the tumors aren’t responding the way that we would like,” Isaac Rochester said.

While the family waits and tries to find out different treatments, they say they have been thankful for all the support given to them. They have been given a place to stay from the Yellow Door Foundation and they say their team with UVA has helped to lighten the burden.

“When you come in, at first, it sort of feels like you’re a patient and then there’s medical professionals providing care. But whenever you’re doing something like this for a year and a half, you become a team. You become almost like family,” Isaac Rochester said.

Even beyond that, family members and friends have also joined forces to show the Rochesters they are not alone in this fight. Some have created Amazon registries, GoFundMe campaigns, and even fundraising events to help out with expenses.

“It was, it’s incredible. I mean, we would have never imagined this kind of response from people,” said Angela Rochester.

“To see that there is really, really a lot of great people out there that that do care, you want to send love that you don’t even know, I think that’s pretty incredible,” Isaac Rochester.

The Rochester family says that even through the worst days, it’s their daughter’s positive spirit that keeps them motivated.

“She has this incredible grace. And so, no matter how bad the day is, you know, how bad she’s hurting, or whatever side effect that she’s having, she has this ability to just rise above,” said Isaac Rochester.

“She’s always been encouraging. Yes, that’s, I think that’s one of her gifts, is she’s an encouragement to people. She knows what to say to cheer people,” said Angela Rochester.

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.

Copyright 2024 WVIR. All rights reserved.