Yosselin Villatoro, 6, uses her walker and hops on one leg as she heads in her home after a prayer vigil for her. The Liberty Township girl was diagnosed in December with osteocarsonoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg that has spread to her lungs. Yosselin lives with her grandparents whose home is in need of rebuilding because of water severe water damage. The home has structural damage and mold. Photo shot Monday May 7, 2012 by Cara Owsley.
Sue Kiesewetter reports
A new house and a new start for young cancer patient Yosselin Villatoro can only be described one way.
?Her guardian angels are working overtime,?? said Tammy Randall, Yosselin?s grandmother, with whom she lives. ?God works miracles. He?s working through her, through the community.?
Since an Enquirer story about Yosselin ran Feb. 22, more community members and businesses have stepped forward to help the family.
Instead of improving the home as originally planned by members of Springdale?s Vineyard Community Church, a custom home builder has offered to tear down the water-damaged house with its narrow hallways and uneven floors, which doesn?t accommodate Yosselin?s walker.
With the help of other contractors, construction workers and suppliers, the builder, who wishes to remain anonymous, will replace it with a new home on the same lot, by October.
The news came May 10, two days before Yosselin went into Children?s Hospital Medical Center to have three tumors removed from her lungs. Testing showed two active cancer cells remain in one of the tumors, but Yosselin is home again, sitting up and using her walker.
?It?s not the news we were hoping for, but she?s still doing wonderfully,?? Randall said. ?We?ll continue with the chemotherapy as planned and they?ll do another scan and see what happens in the next 3-4 weeks.?
In December, Yosselin was diagnosed with osteosarcinoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in her left thighbone and spread to her lungs. In March doctors successfully removed 8 inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod.
Finding out about the new house gave the family hope they would be able to leave their deteriorating home worsened by water flowing into the crawl space during heavy rains due to drainage issues.
?I cried, Keith (her husband) cried,? Randall said. ?They answered my prayers. It will be so much better for Yosselin?s health.?
Plans for ?Yosselin?s House? show a one-story, 2,100-square-foot brick and stone home with a two-car garage and porch, to be built, said Ashley Chance, who founded A Chance Foundation with his wife, Beth.
The non-profit foundation is partnering with the church group to oversee the project ? the first undertaken by the four-year-old organization. So far, about 70 percent of materials and labor have been secured, Chance said.
The house will have an open floor plan to make it easier for Yosselin to get around with her wheelchair and walker. Three bedrooms are planned ? a master suite for the Randalls and two large bedrooms with a bathroom between them for Yosselin and her 5-year-old brother, Freddy.
Besides building the house, contractors plan on doing site work to correct drainage issues from a channel near the house.
?The goal is to have the house built by early fall,?? Chance said. ?We?re also trying to collect donations to help pay off the family?s mortgage.?
As plans move forward on the house ? drawings to submit for building permits should be completed in the next two weeks ? the Randalls continue to focus on Yosselin.
?If we go anywhere with Yosselin,?? Randall said, ?we call the doctors first, and have her tested first to make sure her (white blood) cell count is high enough.?
Yosselin is looking forward to a December trip to Disney World in Florida, being arranged by the Make A Wish Foundation.
?When all this is over, we get to go to Disney World,?? she said. ?I get to have lunch with the princesses.?
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