Winner's Circle
At the end of 2011, Lily Lyman was not feeling well, and her family couldn’t figure out what the problem was.
“She was throwing up at school and would get dizzy; she didn’t have very good balance,” says her dad, Christopher Lyman.
After visits with her pediatrician, Lily was sent to Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children for an MRI. “The results showed that there was a large tumor in the back of her head,” Christopher recalls. Lily was admitted and the following Friday, she was in surgery to remove the tumor. After a month of recovery, Lily started chemo and radiation therapy, which lasted for just over a year.
“However, one of the major side effects of the chemo and radiation was that she lost her hearing,” Chris explains. “But she gained it back through the help of cochlear implants.”
Today, Lily is almost six years cancer-free and is a thriving 7th grader at Le Jardin Academy.
The 13-year-old has also been named this year’s Children’s Miracle Network Champion. The Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) is an organization that works to improve the lives of children by supporting network hospitals located in North America. It helps to fund health care for children, regardless of their ability to pay. One hundred percent of the monies raised in Hawai‘i stay in the Aloha State. It also supports Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children, which is Hawai‘i’s only CMN hospital. Lyman’s role as this year’s Champion means that she’ll be serving as an ambassador for the hospital and sharing her story throughout the year.
“She is very excited to be giving back,” her dad says, adding that she’s planning to help with the organization’s statewide fundraising efforts
Lily also has some very specific ideas on how she’d like to help. “She’s excited about all of the events coming up, but she would really like to do a toy drive for the kids at Kapi‘olani,” Chris says.
In addition to her role as the 2019 Children’s Miracle Network Champion, Lily is also indulging in some of her favorite activities. “Lily likes Legos and to do arts and crafts,” Chris says. “She likes to listen to music and is learning to play the piano.”
He adds that he is thankful for the help his daughter received at Kapi‘olani Medical Center.
“I am most appreciative of Kapi‘olani being available to us and all of our community,” he says. “Having an accessible children’s hospital in the middle of the Pacific is something we take for granted. As the only children’s hospital in the state, we need to come together to support Kapi‘olani and the work that they do for all of our children.”