EATON RAPIDS, Mich. — Delilah Steiner-Zehender is only 4, but she's already beaten cancer twice.
And, for that reason, the Eaton Rapids girl has been named Sparrow’s 2021 Miracle Child.
“Delilah is a delight,” said Sparrow nurse practitioner Cindy Meteyer. “Everyone loves Delilah.”
The soon to be kindergartner was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at just 5 months old. It’s a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells and it’s common in children 5 and younger.
“It was like a tumor that was engulfing her liver,” said Delilah’s father, Todd Hale. “It was putting pressure on her diaphragm.”
After three rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer went into remission.
Two years later, it came back.
“She would just wake up in pain,” Hale said, "crying, screaming and holding her stomach.”
“On Jan. 6 when we went in, her blood levels were really off and they admitted her that day,” said Delilah’s mom, Leni Steiner-Zehender.
That was last year. As the world fought the pandemic, Delilah fought cancer and beat it for the second time. Now, she has a new title at Sparrow Hospital.
“They had asked me and said we would like Delilah to be the Miracle Child, and I said, 'What all does it entail?'” Leni said. “I then asked her and she agreed to do it.”
As the 2021 Sparrow Miracle Child, Delilah’s bright smile and fabulous fashions will be shown all over the hospital’s children’s center. Sparrow officials hope Delilah’s story will help raise donations for kids like just her.
If you would like to donate to children at Sparrow Hospital, Click here.
