Reason to Smile

Seeley with Dr. Wade Kyono, Kapi‘olani pediatric hematologist/oncologist.

(All photos courtesy Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women & Children.)

Take one look at Seeley Borges and you can’t help but smile. She is adorable, energetic, outgoing and, at times, a rascal.

Seeley, 4, is also a cancer survivor.

About two weeks after she was born on Kaua‘i, Seeley developed a mild but lingering fever. Parents Hayley and Shawn took her to Wilcox Medical Center. The team realized this could be serious, so Seeley was transported to Wilcox’s sister hospital on O‘ahu — Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children. There, she was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Hayley couldn’t believe it. How could her barely 3-week-old baby have cancer? She was spiraling. But Shawn was there for her.

“You have to be stronger than this,” he told Hayley. “You know Seeley is a fighter and she’s at the best place she can be.”

The prognosis was anything but hopeful, but the family found hope in Kapi‘olani’s expert team.

“For a child as young as Seeley, the chance of cure was probably 50% or less,” said Dr. Wade Kyono, Kapi‘olani pediatric hematologist/oncologist. “But the odds didn’t matter because we were going to do everything we could.”

Seeley began an intense, monthslong treatment that included multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. It was a regimen that came with severe side effects and complications. But Seeley, still less than a year old, persevered.

“Through the hardest times, she would give us a glimpse of a smile,” Shawn recalls. “We took that as her saying, ‘Mom and Dad, I’m going to do this.’”

Seeley spent the first year of her life battling cancer. Today, she is in remission. As she grows up, she’ll continue receiving care at Kapi‘olani. Her family is grateful that it’ll be with a team they trust, at a place they feel comfortable and welcome.

“It was important for Seeley to begin her treatment at Kapi‘olani because of that sense of family,” Hayley said. “It gave us strength and made us feel safe. We knew everyone loved her. We felt it every day.”

In March, Seeley was named Hawai‘i’s 2026 Children’s Miracle Network Champion. Since then, she and her family have been traveling across the state, sharing their story with partners who support Kapi‘olani. With everyone she meets, Seeley shares her smile, which nothing, not even cancer, could take away.

Tune in for more inspiring stories during the 20th annual Kapi‘olani Radiothon for Kids, Sept. 17 and 18, on KSSK. Visit Give2Kapiolani.org/Radiothon or call 808-951-KIDS (5437) to learn more.

Seeley with her parents, Hayley and Shawn, and older sister, Ainsley.