(KNSI) – Four-year-old Cora Zeidler has been through more in the past few months than most people face in a lifetime, which is why volunteers decided she deserved her very own playground.
In April, the Annandale preschooler was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Cora’s cancer journey began after months of unexplained side pain. Cora’s father, Joe Zeidler tells KNSI News it wasn’t until his daughter broke down crying at school that doctors ordered a CT scan, revealing a massive tumor on her right side. “Basically, was so big it collapsed her right lung, and it wrapped all the way around her side to her spine.”
Cora was rushed to the Children’s Hospital that night to begin treatment. Joe says surgeons were able to remove 98% of the tumor, and she is on the road to recovery. “She’s pretty much breaking records at Children’s just with her recoveries and how she looks. We even did a consultation at the Mayo [Clinic], and they are just blown away. They all say she looks great for a neuroblastoma patient.”
Since then, she has been in and out of Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis receiving chemotherapy treatments.
But on Friday, Cora and her five-year-old brother Carson have something to celebrate: A brand-new playground built in their backyard by volunteers from Cornerstone Building Brands and the Roc Solid pediatric cancer foundation.
Joe described it as, “a little clubhouse up top, and there’s a slide and there’s two swings, a little rock-climbing wall. Right when I showed them the picture, they were both jumping up and down. Ever since they’ve seen the picture, they ask me every day if the people are coming to build it.”
Cora is now receiving outpatient chemotherapy treatments. As Cora continues her treatment, the playground will provide a place for normalcy and fun during her recovery at home.
Her preschool teachers have been visiting the hospital regularly to work with her and play, helping keep her up to speed with her education. The school has also saved her spot in preschool for when she’s ready to return, likely sometime around winter.
Her next major milestone is a bone marrow transplant scheduled tentatively for October 5th.
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