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The bubbly 3-year-old from Hawthorne started limping seemingly out of nowhere on her right leg in December 2020.
Natalie's worried parents, Sarah and Patrick, took her to the doctor immediately and, eventually, would come to learn that their little girl had a tumor on the left side of her brain.
After more than a year of 33 radiation sessions and a successful surgery, Natalie was cancer free. That was in March 2021.
Exactly a year later, her cancer had returned in exactly the same spot of her brain.
"Natalie has just had a second surgery to remove the tumor but the next steps will depend on seeking out multiple opinions from different institutions as there is no standard of care for relapse of Ependymoma," reads a GoFundMe page launched to help her family.
The treatment plan will likely consist of a combination of chemotherapy and radiation for the 4-year-old girl.
"While the road to a cure may not seem clear at the moment, what we can count on is Natalie’s resilient spirit," says the campaign, launched by Abby Rovetto. "She simply uplifts all those who meet her, leaving a lasting impression wherever she goes.
"She loves those around her purely and fiercely and never, ever fails to make us smile."
More than $1,100 had been raised on the GoFundMe as of Thursday, March 10.
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