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Yosselin Villatoro beams at her eighth birthday party March 16. The year before, Yosselin’s family was preparing for her surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Photo taken by Cara Owsley.
Yosselin Villatoro is a ‘survivor’ – Sue Kiesewetter again shared the story in The Cincinnati Enquirer of Yosselin Villatoro, who recently celebrated her eighth birthday. Villatoro was diagnosed just before Christmas in 2011 with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs. Recently, she told her grandmother that she was a “cancer survivor.”
Butler County resists switching to full-time judges - Sheila McLaughlin reports for The Cincinnati Enquirer: Thomas Moyer, the late Ohio Supreme Court chief justice, tried for more than a decade to eliminate the use of part-time judges across the state. They more recently came under attack by Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser. He called one local judge “the fox in the hen house” and was instrumental in getting the judge kicked off of 10 drunken driving cases.
Punxsutawney Phil is off the hook – Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser has since changed his mind and dismissed the charge of “misrepresentation of early spring” against the groundhog. Gmoser said Phil is a scapegoat for the misinterpretation of his handler. Phil’s handler has “stepped up to the burrow to take full responsibility for misrepresenting said Defendant’s prediction of an early spring,” he said in the official looking dismissal document.
The Woodland 6th grade girls’ team won their 4th consecutive March Madness championship. Photo provided.
‘Lakota Style’ March Madness – Around 1,300 Lakota elementary students on 146 different teams helped raise more than $13,000 for local non-profits by participating in this month’s March Madness “Lakota Style” basketball tournament. Last year, the event raised $3,000.
AK Steel forecasts first quarter loss – AK Steel Holding Corp. said Friday it expects to post a net loss of between 9 cents and 13 cents per share in the first quarter. The West Chester Township-based parent of AK Steel said it is dealing with lower levels of steel shipments and below average spot market demand compared to the fourth quarter.
Lakota West grad Brigit Reder makes professional roster – Lakota West graduate and former Ball State soccer player Brigit Reder has recently made the preseason 25-person roster for the Western New York Flash of the National Women’s Soccer League. On the roster, Reder joins Abby Wambach and Caril Lloyd, both members of the U.S. Women’s National Team.
Tammy Randall burst into tears when her granddaughter said the four words she’s waited months to hear.
“I’m a cancer survivor,” Yosselin Villatoro told her grandmother one day after school this month.
“I stood there and cried,” said Randall, who has custody of Yosselin and her 6-year-old brother Freddy.
“With all she’s been through and struggled with – to finally have her say that, well, all I can say is I’ve been waiting a long time to hear those words.”
Yosselin Villatoro beams at her eighth birthday party March 16. The year before, Yosselin’s family was preparing for her surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Photo taken by Cara Owsley.
Fifteen months ago, just before Christmas 2011, Tammy and her husband, Keith, got the devastating news that their then-6-year-old granddaughter had osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs.
Since then, Yosselin has undergone four surgeries – including one to remove 8 inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod – to remove the cancer. Another operation is scheduled June 14 to lengthen the rod since Yosselin has grown 2.5 inches in the last year.
In December, doctors gave the Randalls the news they had been praying for since the ordeal began: Yosselin was in remission and if her now quarterly tests remain the same – her next scan will be done in June – she will be declared cancer free in five years.
“I told Yosselin, but I don’t think she really believed it until she said those words after she did a school report on Sally Ride,” Randall said. “Even though Sally died of cancer (in July), Yosselin recognized she had survived cancer.”
(Ride, a physicist, in 1983 became the first American woman astronaut to orbit the earth.)
“It’s breathtaking just to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady,” Randall said with tears in her eyes.
“She had her first sleepover at a friend’s house, and I was a nervous wreck. It was the first time she’s been away since the diagnosis.… It went well.”
Yosselin is now going to school most days, and the family is settling into a routine that doesn’t involve constant doctors’ visits and runs to the hospital every time Yosselin gets a cold or fever.
She still tires easily and frequently takes a nap after school. Her immune system is getting stronger, but, when she does get sick, it takes longer to recover and the illness tends to be more severe than before the cancer diagnosis.
Physical therapy that Yosselin is undergoing has strengthened her leg enough that she bears full weight on it. Yosselin uses her walker at Cherokee Elementary – where she is a second-grader – only as a safety precaution as her leg strengthens.
Classmate Savannah Evans is glad Yosselin is back in the classroom full time.
“My favorite part is spending time with her,” Savannah said. “She’s the kindest person in the whole world.”
Yosselin likes physical education and art classes and was excited to help her team win a race.
“In gym class I get to run and exercise my leg and that’s good,’’ Yosselin said. “We did a one-legged relay race – you gotta take big hops – and we had teams and my team won because of me. I’m the fastest hopper.”
For her eighth birthday, Yosselin invited her entire class, along with family and friends, to a birthday party that featured a live Candyland game set up in the family’s basement. It was quite different from her seventh birthday when there was no party as the family prepared for surgery to insert the rod into Yosselin’s leg.
For five weeks before the party Randall worked on re-creating the Candyland game board complete with Chocolate Mountain, Lollipop Woods, Snowflake Lake, Peanut Acres, King Candy and Peppermint Forest.
More than two dozen children turned out.
“I’m lucky, very, very, very lucky to have a birthday party with this many people,” Yosselin said.
Volunteers build a house for a 7-year-old’s family as she copes with cancer
WestChesterBuzz.com will count down the area’s top 12 stories of 2012 this month, concluding with West Chester’s most discussed topic of the year on Sunday, Dec. 30.
Sue Kiesewetter reports:
Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012 marked a new beginning for 7-year-old Yosselin Villatoro and her family.
That’s because, on that day, Yosselin, her 6-year-old brother, Freddy, and grandparents, Tammy and Keith Randall, moved into a new house built for the family by volunteers.
Before they could move in, they were greeted that evening by 30 to 40 community members, who wanted to reveal the home they built for the family.
“It was unreal. Totally unreal,” Tammy Randall said. “You always hear about all the bad. This is a good thing. People came together for strangers, for a cause, for a 7-year-old child battling cancer, and it is just wonderful.”
No longer will they worry that mold or walls separating from the floor in their old, flood-damaged home would compromise Yosselin’s delicate immune system damaged by months of chemotherapy.
There are no uneven floors or too-narrow hallways to hamper her movement with her walker or wheelchair as she gradually builds up her strength to walk unaided.
“It’s wonderful,” said her grandmother, who has custody of Yosselin and Freddy. “I thank God. He gave me all the answers and these wonderful people that have helped us.”
Keith Randall, kisses his granddaughter, Yosselin Villatoro, 7, after seeing the inside of the their new home for the first time in Liberty Township. The family’s home old home was torn down and rebuilt after after a group of friends from Vineyard Community Church in Springdale learned of Yosselin’s diagnosis of osteosarcoma. A New Chance Foundation and and High Pointe Custom Homes tore down the old flood-damaged home and built a new one on the same land. Yosselin, is now in remission of the bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs. Photo shot by Cara Owsley on Tuesday Nov. 20, 2012.
The family’s life changed dramatically nearly one year ago when doctors told the Randalls that Yosselin had osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs.
Since that December 2011 diagnosis just before Christmas, Yosselin has undergone four surgeries – including one to remove eight inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod – to remove the cancer.
She has been hospitalized dozens of times for chemotherapy treatments, infections and transfusions.
Through it all, a group of dedicated volunteers joined the family on their journey, expanding the circle of help as needed.
“And all these strangers came together and created all of this for a 7-year-old little girl,” Tammy Randall said. “Who does that anymore? It needs to be out there, it really does.”
It all began with a phone call offering help and support from Kristan Dooley, the mother of one of Yosselin’s classmates at Cherokee Elementary School who was concerned about Yosselin after she had missed several days.
“It started out that we’ll pray for you, get meals and buy gas cards,’’ said volunteer Angie Roehm. “We started by redoing Yosselin’s room – a few families, our parents and close friends.”
From there, the group thought about redoing three or four parts of the house but soon discovered that wouldn’t be an option because of the extent of the damage.
Money the Randalls had put aside for the repair work – which had begun before Yosselin’s diagnosis – was diverted to mounting medical bills. Repairs were halted – until the volunteers stepped in.
“At every step that we took toward what we felt was the right thing to do – what we felt God was calling us to do – our circle of volunteers from the community grew,” Roehm said.
“We started out with doing a few core things to make the house more livable, but we knew we needed to do more.”
Eventually that core group of about 10 partnered with A New Chance Foundation and Lebanon-based High Pointe Custom Homes to tear down the old house and construct the new, 2,100-square-foot brick and stone ranch home .
Dooley estimates 300 to 400 volunteers helped build the home.
“I woke up today at 3 o’clock this morning and I felt like it was Christmas,” Dooley said. “This is the moment we have been waiting for – for the past 10 months. The realization that this is all happening and all these pieces are being put together just gives me butterflies.”
Once construction began, the family wasn’t allowed in the house – until it was unveiled.
Besides building the house, the group provided new appliances, filled the cabinets with plates, cups and silverware. They put new towels in the bathrooms, sheets and comforters on new beds, a couch in the great room, along with table and chairs in the kitchen and canisters on the counter.
Things are so much better now, Tammy says, pointing to Yosselin, who can stand unaided on both legs for short periods of time. That’s something she couldn’t do just two months ago.
“She’s touched a lot of lives,” Randall said, her eyes tearing up. “She’s brought everyone together.”
Yosselin’s immune system is improving and a slight rise in her temperature no longer sends the family to the emergency room. She is now receiving therapy twice a week to strengthen her leg muscles. She is allowed to put 50 percent weight on her leg and put both feet on the ground for short periods.
Yosselin received her last chemotherapy treatment Sept. 6 and only has to schedule appointments with her oncologist quarterly.
“Looking at her today – it was worth it,’’ Randall said. “Thank you, God, for everything.”
After next month’s doctor visit, the Randalls expect to hear four magic words: Yosselin is in remission.
Until then, she continues her therapy. She is coping with some memory loss from the chemotherapy treatments and her family is working to reduce Yosselin’s panic attacks.
After Christmas, she should be able to start second grade at Cherokee.
“We still have to be careful, but things are good,” Randall says. “We’re not done yet, but we’re in a better place.”
Enquirer reporter Adam Kiefaber contributed
Tuesday marked a new beginning for 7-year-old Yosselin Villatoro and her family.
That’s because Yosselin, her 6-year-old brother, Freddy, and grandparents, Tammy and Keith Randall, moved into a new house built for the family by volunteers.
Before they could move in, they were greeted Tuesday evening by 30 to 40 community members, who wanted to reveal the home they built for the family.
“It was unreal. Totally unreal,” Tammy Randall said. “You always hear about all the bad. This is a good thing. People came together for strangers, for a cause, for a 7-year-old child battling cancer, and it is just wonderful.”
No longer will they worry that mold or walls separating from the floor in their old, flood-damaged home would compromise Yosselin’s delicate immune system damaged by months of chemotherapy.
There are no uneven floors or too-narrow hallways to hamper her movement with her walker or wheelchair as she gradually builds up her strength to walk unaided.
“It’s wonderful,” said her grandmother, who has custody of Yosselin and Freddy. “I thank God. He gave me all the answers and these wonderful people that have helped us.”
Keith Randall, kisses his granddaughter, Yosselin Villatoro, 7, after seeing the inside of the their new home for the first time in Liberty Township. The family’s home old home was torn down and rebuilt after after a group of friends from Vineyard Community Church in Springdale learned of Yosselin’s diagnosis of osteosarcoma. A New Chance Foundation and and High Pointe Custom Homes tore down the old flood-damaged home and built a new one on the same land. Yosselin, is now in remission of the bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs. Photo shot by Cara Owsley on Tuesday Nov. 20, 2012.
The family’s life changed dramatically nearly one year ago when doctors told the Randalls that Yosselin had osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs.
Since that December 2011 diagnosis just before Christmas, Yosselin has undergone four surgeries – including one to remove eight inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod – to remove the cancer.
She has been hospitalized dozens of times for chemotherapy treatments, infections and transfusions.
Through it all, a group of dedicated volunteers joined the family on their journey, expanding the circle of help as needed.
“And all these strangers came together and created all of this for a 7-year-old little girl,” Tammy Randall said. “Who does that anymore? It needs to be out there, it really does.”
It all began with a phone call offering help and support from Kristan Dooley, the mother of one of Yosselin’s classmates at Cherokee Elementary School who was concerned about Yosselin after she had missed several days.
“It started out that we’ll pray for you, get meals and buy gas cards,’’ said volunteer Angie Roehm. “We started by redoing Yosselin’s room – a few families, our parents and close friends.”
From there, the group thought about redoing three or four parts of the house but soon discovered that wouldn’t be an option because of the extent of the damage.
Money the Randalls had put aside for the repair work – which had begun before Yosselin’s diagnosis – was diverted to mounting medical bills. Repairs were halted – until the volunteers stepped in.
“At every step that we took toward what we felt was the right thing to do – what we felt God was calling us to do – our circle of volunteers from the community grew,” Roehm said.
“We started out with doing a few core things to make the house more livable, but we knew we needed to do more.”
Eventually that core group of about 10 partnered with A New Chance Foundation and Lebanon-based High Pointe Custom Homes to tear down the old house and construct the new, 2,100-square-foot brick and stone ranch home .
Dooley estimates 300 to 400 volunteers helped build the home.
“I woke up today at 3 o’clock this morning and I felt like it was Christmas,” Dooley said. “This is the moment we have been waiting for – for the past 10 months. The realization that this is all happening and all these pieces are being put together just gives me butterflies.”
Once construction began, the family wasn’t allowed in the house – until it was unveiled.
Besides building the house, the group provided new appliances, filled the cabinets with plates, cups and silverware. They put new towels in the bathrooms, sheets and comforters on new beds, a couch in the great room, along with table and chairs in the kitchen and canisters on the counter.
Things are so much better now, Tammy says, pointing to Yosselin, who can stand unaided on both legs for short periods of time. That’s something she couldn’t do just two months ago.
“She’s touched a lot of lives,” Randall said, her eyes tearing up. “She’s brought everyone together.”
Yosselin’s immune system is improving and a slight rise in her temperature no longer sends the family to the emergency room. She is now receiving therapy twice a week to strengthen her leg muscles. She is allowed to put 50 percent weight on her leg and put both feet on the ground for short periods.
Yosselin received her last chemotherapy treatment Sept. 6 and only has to schedule appointments with her oncologist quarterly.
“Looking at her today – it was worth it,’’ Randall said. “Thank you, God, for everything.”
After next month’s doctor visit, the Randalls expect to hear four magic words: Yosselin is in remission.
Until then, she continues her therapy. She is coping with some memory loss from the chemotherapy treatments and her family is working to reduce Yosselin’s panic attacks.
After Christmas, she should be able to start second grade at Cherokee.
“We still have to be careful, but things are good,” Randall says. “We’re not done yet, but we’re in a better place.”
Enquirer reporter Adam Kiefaber contributed
Tammy Randall pushes granddaughter Yosselin Villatoro, 7, across their Liberty Township lawn before their water-damaged house was demolished. Photo taken by Cara Owsley.
The West Chester Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #186 will be hosting a charity golf outing Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Beckett Ridge Golf Club, which will benefit a local child’s wish to visit Disney World.
Yosselin Villatoro of Liberty Township, who is fighting cancer, is event’s honorary wish child. Her wish is to visit the princesses and to enjoy the rides at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.
Yosselin was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs, just before Christmas.
Since then, she has had surgeries to remove eight inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod, and to remove tumors. She has also been hospitalized countless times for treatments, infections and transfusions.
Net proceeds from the golf outing will go towards Yosselin’s trip with her family to Disney World.
The golf outing will begin with a shotgun start at noon. Registration begins at 11 a.m.
For more information on the event or to register, call John Morgan at 513-759-7269.
Information about Yosselin Villatoro was taken from a July article by Sue Kiesewetter for The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Tammy Randall pushes granddaughter Yosselin Villatoro, 7, across their Liberty Township lawn before the water-damaged house was demolished. Photo taken by Cara Owsley.
Sue Kiesewetter reports
When the first swing of the track hoe struck Tammy and Keith Randall’s home of nearly 18 years, there were no tears.
Those had already been shed.
Instead, family and friends took out video and still cameras and began recording the nine-minute demolition of the family home.
The tear-down this week signaled a fresh start for the family, especially for the couple’s 7-year-old granddaughter, Yosselin Villatoro, who is fighting cancer and lives with the Randalls and her younger brother, Freddy.
“We’re excited. I got all my tears out while we were moving. This is a new beginning,” Tammy Randall said.
“Take it all away – it’s where the cancer began. We’re going to get a safe environment for her with no mold, no cracks for her to fall over.”
Just before Christmas, Yosselin was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and spread to her lungs.
Since then, Yosselin has had surgeries to remove 8 inches of her femur, replacing it with an expandable metal rod, and to remove tumors. She still can’t bear weight on her left leg; she uses a walker and wheelchair to get around.
Yosselin has been hospitalized more than 35 times for chemotherapy treatments, infections and transfusions. Last weekend was the most serious, her grandmother said. Yosselin’s blood presure dropped to 73/30 and her heart rate increased to 130 beats per minute.
Yosselin is being treated this week at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center for one of five remaining chemotherapy treatments. Each treatment requires a hospital stay of at least three days.
Keith Randall said it is hard to believe how generous the community has been to his family. Even before Yosselin became ill, the family had begun work to repair and remodel the water-damaged house, but those plans were halted as bills began mounting. (more…)
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.”
Sue Kiesewetter reports for The Cincinnati Enquirer:
There is nothing Yosselin Villatoro loves more than putting the Just Dance Kids 2 Wii game into the console and dancing to her favorite song, “I am a Gummy Bear.’’
The Wyandot Early Childhood School first-grader’s smile widens as she starts singing along, swaying to the music, laughing with her 5-year-old brother, Freddy.
“I love Gummy Bears, they’re my favorite candy,” the 6-year-old tells visitors at the home she shares with her brother and grandparents, Tammy and Keith Randall.
“I like sour candy,’’ she says pointing to the out-of-reach stash left over from Halloween.
These days the petite, soft-spoken girl tires quicker than she did three months ago. And she’s had to find dance moves that can be done using only her right leg.
Just before Christmas, the Liberty Township girl was diagnosed with osteocarsonoma, an aggressive bone cancer that started in the femur of her left leg and has spread to her lungs.
Chemotherapy treatments – she will need 26 over nine months – leave her tired and her immune system weakened.
She has already had one surgery that has left her left leg fragile, requiring her to use a walker. Another is scheduled for March 9, when doctors will remove 8 inches of her femur, replacing it with a metal rod.
“We don’t like it, but that’s the way it is,’’ Keith Randall says. “The cancer is just in the femur, not her hip bone, and that’s good news.” (more…)
