MEET ZOEY
When Zoey was just 12 weeks old, her parents thought they were dealing with another childhood virus.
Instead, they heard the words no family is ever prepared for:
"Your baby has acute myeloid leukemia."
Born in April 2025, Zoey had spent her first weeks battling persistent fevers and illness. By July, she was critically ill, and after multiple trips to the ER, she was admitted to UNC Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill, where chemotherapy began immediately.
Within days, complications arose.
A failed extubation left Zoey on a ventilator for nine days.
"Watching our tiny baby fight so hard to breathe and recover was something no parent could ever prepare for," her mother recalls.
Although Zoey responded well to her first round of chemotherapy and entered remission in September, the journey was far from over. She remained hospitalized for 71 consecutive days as she underwent additional treatment, while her parents tried to balance life between the hospital and home.
At home was Zoey's five-year-old brother, Archer.
He couldn't understand why his baby sister was so sick.
He only knew that everything had changed.
To make sure one parent could always be with each child, Zoey's father made the heartbreaking decision to leave his job. Her mother continued working remotely from Zoey's hospital room whenever she could. Every day brought another trip to the hospital, another parking fee, another meal away from home, and another reminder that childhood cancer affects far more than a child's health.
"Childhood cancer is a different breed of evil," Zoey's mother says. "It doesn't consider finances, love, ability, privilege, or even human nature. It was a random mutation that changed our family forever."
After finally returning home in October, Zoey was readmitted just one week later for another round of chemotherapy. During that hospitalization, doctors told the family a bone marrow transplant offered the best chance for a cure.
Then came an extraordinary moment.
Archer was tested as a donor.
He was a 100 percent match for his little sister.
In December 2025, Archer bravely donated bone marrow to help save Zoey's life.
"We have never been more proud of him," his mother says. "Watching both of our children endure so much because of cancer was almost more than we could bear."
The transplant brought new complications and another stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Zoey developed veno-occlusive disease, lost the hair she had just begun to regrow, and faced more setbacks than any baby should ever experience.
Still, she kept fighting.
She engrafted successfully.
And today, six months after her transplant, Zoey is home.
She hasn't required hospitalization since January 2026.
She's walking.
She's smiling.
She's laughing.
She's making wonderfully joyful messes.
Hallie, Zoey's Mom
Throughout those seven months, Children's Cancer Partners of the Carolinas helped ease the financial burden by providing assistance with travel expenses, meals, and parking costs.
"CCP helped us during the worst financial time of our lives," Zoey's mother shares. "Honestly, the parking reimbursement made one of the biggest differences. You don't think about parking fees until you're driving in and out of the hospital every single day. We could not have made it without the support."
Today, Zoey still has a long road of recovery ahead.
But her family is no longer living in survival mode.
Instead, they are rediscovering the simple gift of being together.
"Standing on the other side of this has given us a deeper understanding of gratitude and what it truly means to have your family together."
Every day, families across North and South Carolina begin journeys like Zoey's.
Your generosity helps ensure they never have to face the financial burden of childhood cancer alone.
