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Buckeye girl inspires others in courageous cancer battle

The little girl is the one keeping her family strong as she battles Stage 4 cancer.

BUCKEYE, Ariz. - It’s fitting that “Love” is Zaliyah Rodriguez’s middle name; she was born on Valentine’s Day, and the love and joy she brings to others is contagious.

“She just lights up any room she walks into,” said her father, Anthony Rodriguez. “She’s full of energy and turns things around, and she’s positive.”

But in January, an injury would lead to a discovery that would put that positivity to the test.

“She went to one of her sister’s volleyball games. She ran ahead of us into the gymnasium. Her hand got stuck in the door -- that’s kind of where everything snow-balled from there,” Rodriguez said.

That injury led to them finding a bump on her hand, which turned out to be a rare malignant tumor called rhabdomyosarcoma. Zaliyah had Stage 4 cancer.

“It kind of blew us away. It was devastating news,” Rodriguez said.

The fight for life began. Zaliyah started a 54-week chemotherapy treatment.

But her dad said she’s been comforting her family every step of the way.

“If anybody is having a hard time, it’s the family, it’s us and everybody else. She actually is taking everything very well,” he said. “She lights up the room no matter where she goes and she is the one that tells us it’s OK.”

A friend of the family reached out to photographer Alicia Atkins, and Atkins immediately knew she wanted to capture Zaliyah’s journey.

“I fell in love with them from the moment I met them,” she said. “Zaliyah is amazing. She gives you strength. She’s beautiful inside and out.”

During the chemo, Zaliyah started to lose her hair, but her parents let her decide when she wanted to shave her head.

“One day she just woke up and said, ‘I’m ready to do it,’ and she points to the top of her head. And I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Rodriguez said.

Atkins was there to document the experience.

“It was strengthening to see Z stay so strong for everybody in the room,” she said. “She never had emotion or cried. She was there to hug her parents and let them know it was OK.”

It was an incredibly emotional moment in Zaliyah’s journey.

“The first time she saw herself in the mirror, it was pretty powerful. She realized, ‘I did it, I took the step,’” Rodriguez said. “And that’s when we decided bald is beautiful.”

It’s that strength and bravery from Zaliyah that guides her family, giving more meaning to her middle name.

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