2-year-old beats cancer after receiving care at Primary Children’s Hospital

TOOELE, Utah — September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and one 2-year-old in Tooele battled cancer and beat it after treatment at Primary Children’s Hospital.

Last September, Wade and Shilo Memmott took their daughter Harmoni to the doctor to treat her cold.

“We thought she had just a little bit of cold, but we came out with a cancer diagnosis. It was really scary,” Wade said.

He said they noticed a hard spot on her stomach.

“Once the doctors felt it and looked at each other, we knew something was wrong,” he said.

The doctors found a tumor on her liver — a rare cancer called Hepatoblastoma.

“We were in a blur. The cancer word is really scary. We didn’t know how to take it,” Wade said.

They started treatment at Primary Children’s Hospital immediately, and Harmoni never gave up.

“The day of her chemo, she was up and dancing; she didn’t lose any of her fire,” Wade said.

She danced and fought through seven months of treatment and surgery until Feb. 4, when they received the news that Harmoni was cancer-free.

“It was such a relief,” Wade said. “You just wanted to cry right there; it was surreal.”

Wade and Shilo said they are grateful for the care they received at Primary Children’s.

“It was a second home; it felt like that was where we needed to be,” Shilo said.

Dr. Douglas Fair, a pediatric and young adult oncologist at Primary Children’s Hospital, said there is a child diagnosed with cancer at Primary Children’s every two days.

“Having a child stricken with cancer can be heartbreaking and a parent’s worst nightmare,” Fair said.

Like Harmoni, Fair said many of those children beat cancer. He said Primary Children’s has a cure rate of 85%.

“Until the cure rate is 100%, we still have a lot of work to do,” Fair said.

He said to help support patients and families after treatment, they have a new clinic called “Survivorship” that creates a custom support plan for each person.