Whiz Kid: Vanessa Leiva, Brave Survivor of Major Surgery

Every Wednesday, Novato Patch honors a Whiz Kid in the community for doing something special in academics, sports, for charity, or for excelling in chess like last week's Whiz Kid, .

This week we honor a little 5-year old girl who showed bravery and resiliency in the face of a dire situation, and gave her community the opportunity to show and express support for her and her family.

NAME:  Vanessa Leiva

SCHOOL:  San Ramon Elementary

GRADE:  First Grade (2011-2012)

GOOD DEED:  A healthy, bouncy kindergartener last year, Vanessa suffered a high fever days before Christmas and was taken to her doctor where, after an X-ray and an MRI, her parents were told the shocking news that she had cancer. Vanessa was admitted to the intensive care unit at Kaiser in Oakland on Christmas Eve where a fast-growing tumor was dug out from around her airway and above her heart. For the next 10 days, Vanessa was fed through a central line and could have only chapstick and gum. It took about that long for the pathology report to come back showing the tumor was benign. 

"People in our community were amazing with all the support. I don't know how some people found out, but there was a meal train so my husband and two sons were fed while I was at the hospital, which was wonderful," says Vanessa's mom, Fabiola. In addition to the meals, several San Ramon parents helped provide rides, homework support and other services for Vanessa's fifth-grade brother. "I love this community," says Tanya Ruano, one of the volunteer moms. "Everyone wanted to help."

In spite of missing school for approximately three months, Vanessa knows her numbers (counting up and back to 100 and counting by twos), the days of the week, the alphabet (upper and lower case) and many sight words; in short, all the requirements needed to be promoted to first grade. San Ramon kindergarten teacher Debra Roney says Vanessa "is smart and was on top of her academics before her illness and kept up afterwards." 

KEY TO AWESOMENESS:  Throughout the ordeal of the endless medical procedures, the surgery and the daily shots, Vanessa showed herself to be very brave and learned a lot of medical terminology and loved the nurses. "She was very strong through all this and didn't whine; she only complained when she smelled food (during the period she couldn't eat)," says Fabiola. Vanessa says she wants to be a nurse when she grows up and to help children. The teenagers who volunteer in the intensive care unit helping tutor and play with the children made a big impression on her. 

Vanessa has an interesting-looking scar running above her left collar bone and a great story to tell her friends about what her family got for Christmas when she was 5 years old: A life-altering scare and life-affirming perspective.