An Olivehurst infant battling a rare form of brain cancer died Wednesday night.
Kenzie Atkins, 1, started showing signs of cancer when she was 5 months old – her eyes shaking and suffering rapid weight loss. Doctors didn’t expect her to make it to her first birthday Oct. 26, so her family threw her a party a month early.
“She is in no more pain,” her mother, Marissa Atkins, wrote on Facebook. “She is free and I can’t wait to see her again. I miss her so much.”
In March, Kenzie’s parents took her to Sutter General Hospital’s Oncology Center in Sacramento. In April, she started chemotherapy, but an MRI showed her brain tumor was progressing. Doctors decided to discontinue treatment and start hospice care. On May 6, Marissa and Mike Atkins spent their first wedding anniversary at a Relay for Life event in honor of their daughter.
“What my family and I learned from Kenzie from her short life was that she always smiled even when she was in pain, there never was a day I didn’t see her sad,” Marissa said. “She brought family closer together that were separated for a long time.”