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Doctor, 4-legged friend at McLane Children's Medical Center saves child's life: Parents

Doctor, 4-legged friend at McLane Children's Medical Center saves child's life: Parents
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TEMPLE, Texas — The parents of a 5-year-old girl battling kidney cancer hope to pay it forward.

Their daughter was just three years old when they got the terrifying diagnosis.

They say the doctors and a four-legged friend at McLane Children’s Medical Center saved her life.

Elliot Hill has overcome more before kindergarten than most kids do in a lifetime.

In 2019, her parents found a large lump on her abdomen, so they took her to the doctor.

“My gut instinct was there was something that's very wrong,” said Janett Hill, Elliot's Mom.

Her motherly instincts were right. After multiple tests, doctors diagnosed the 3-year-old with kidney cancer.

“That's when we found out that it was Stage 4,” she said. “It had already progressed and spread into her lungs.”

Wilms’ tumors are the most common type of kidney cancer in children.

Like in Elliot’s case, most children do not have any symptoms.

"She wasn't feeling any pain before diagnosis and then she goes through surgery, she wakes up, and she feels pain. And she doesn't understand why," her mother said.

After surgery, the Hills said Elliot wouldn’t talk to anyone – that is until a team from the hospital brought in a therapy dog.

“Lorenzo comes in and and as soon as he came in her face lit up. Demeanor, everything just changed."

“She like kind of patted the bed and she was like, ‘Up. Up!’” her mother said. “And we both looked at each other. And we're like, okay, yeah, can he just stay here?”

Because of that experience, the Hills bought Elliot a dog.

They are now training “Moose” to do therapy work in hopes that he can help other kids in Elliot’s shoes.

The Hills said they couldn’t have gotten through the scariest time in their lives without McLane’s.

"We don't know what we would have done honestly, like, yeah, yes, there are other hospitals. But we knew that we weren't going to get the same level of care that we were going to get at McLane's,” said Eric Hill, Elliot’s dad.

Elliot currently undergoes scans every three months. While the frequency will dwindle, the scans will continue until she’s 14.