In the summer of 2022, four-year-old Chloe began complaining about leg and hip pain on a family vacation in Myrtle Beach. Becky, Chloe’s mother, assumed it was just because she was an active kid running around all summer. One week later, when Chloe limped up to her after a fall from her aunt’s swing set, Becky decided to take her to the hospital.
The hospital attributed the discomfort to growing pains, and Chloe and her mom went home. One week later, Chloe was still in pain. Her mom took her to the on-call pediatrician, who agreed with the hospital’s belief that it was growing pain. After her third week of pain, Chloe began struggling to walk. They went to St. Joe’s Hospital, where doctors diagnosed Chloe with myositis, a condition that can cause muscles to become weak, tired and painful.
Four weeks after the pain began, Chloe leaned over to pick something up off the floor and fell over. Her mom immediately knew something was wrong and took her to her pediatrician.
“As we’re walking down the hallway, [the pediatrician] looks at her and says, ‘something is wrong with her’ before we’re even in the room.”
As the pediatrician examined Chloe’s abdomen, Becky noticed his face flinch. “You felt something didn’t you,” Becky said.
The pediatrician called Hershey, and told Becky, “Go home, pack a bag, and when I call you, leave for Hershey right away.” An hour later in the Hershey emergency room, Chloe was seen immediately, and the scans and testing began. The mass in her abdomen was “three-quarters of the length of an unsharpened number two pencil… between her spine and her kidneys and abdomen.” The mass had “metastasized to her hips, her upper left thigh, and her neck.”
When the doctor asked to speak to Becky in the hallway, she knew it was not a good sign.
“That’s when they told me that she had a stage IV mass next to her spine.”
Chloe was diagnosed with Stage IV alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma on August 30, 2022, a soft tissue tumor that is most common in older children and teenagers.
Becky was heartbroken, still mourning the recent loss of her brother and father. Her father was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021. Becky told Chloe and her siblings, Alex and Jess, that it was likely the last time they would see Pop Pop. That week, the family celebrated Alex’s 16th birthday, and Chloe’s third birthday. At midnight after Chloe’s birthday, Becky told her father that he made it. He passed away on his favorite holiday, April Fool’s Day.
Chloe’s Uncle Jacob was born with Angelman syndrome. He developed Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and his handicap prevented his body from fighting the disease. Two months after his father passed, Jacob passed away on June 21, 2021. Becky’s mourning was interrupted by her daughter’s diagnosis, and she focused all her energy on Chloe.
Chloe and Becky’s first stay at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital lasted for two weeks, although Chloe said it felt closer to 65 days. To make Chloe more comfortable, Becky and Chloe’s dad decorated the room with unicorns and a Minnie Mouse sticker above her bed.
After Chloe’s first scan, her parents were called in to see the results. As they looked at the image, Chloe told her mom she wanted to see it too. “I wanna see what it looks like inside my body.” Ever since that day, the doctors talk to Chloe more than her parents, and she answers every question for herself.
Chloe and her family developed many traditions throughout treatment. The night before every scan, Chloe ate two lobster tails for dinner. She listened to Disney music, especially Moana, to put her to sleep during each scan. After, they would grab food and go to Starbucks before going home. They also went to Chocolate World every time they went to Hershey. Finally, if Chloe needed an IV line for a scan, she was rewarded with the gift shop if she didn’t cry.
She became friends with the nurses and doctors during her inpatient stays. She even nicknamed one nurse “Lazy Bum Lindsay” after she forgot to bring Chloe a popsicle.
Chloe’s chemotherapy and radiation spanned one and a half years. She had to receive treatment Monday through Friday for over a month and a half. Throughout treatment, she found joy in the little things. She takes pride in her “tattoos” from radiation and plans to “get more dots on [her] belly, and then [she] can play connect the dots with it.” Although she lost her hair during treatment, she was relieved she didn’t have to wash her hair anymore.
After her port, which she named her “Chloe Pump,” was surgically removed, she had an unusual request for the surgeon: she wanted to keep it. Her surgeon sent the port out to be sterilized and shipped it to her house. Chloe now hopes to bring her souvenir in to show her second-grade class.
When Chloe was diagnosed, her parents were working full-time, spending their days between work and the hospital. Becky was balancing the schedules of two teenage children, her full-time job, Chloe’s treatment, mourning her father and brother, and 8 newborn puppies. Becky found support in THON™ through Four Diamonds and their school’s Mini-THON. Twin Valley High School’s Mini-THON banded together to cook monthly frozen dinners for Chloe and her family. The Nolf family still receives home cooked dinners every three months and attends the football games where Chloe is a captain and assists with the coin toss.
Four Diamonds helped tremendously during treatment. Gas cards were provided to ease the cost of the hour and a half drive to and from the clinic, the Ronald McDonald house ensured they did not have to commute every day and stepped in when Becky needed surgery after dislocating her shoulder and when her car broke down.
“I couldn’t thank everybody enough for everything that they have done for us and continue to still do,” Becky said.
After finishing her inpatient care, Chloe rang the floor bell and put her bead in the word wall, which displayed “inspire.” Chloe chose to put her bead in the “I” because “there is no I in team.”
Chloe’s advice to other kids going through treatment, is to “be confident, be brave.”
THON 2025 was Chloe’s first THON Weekend, and she can’t wait to come back for THON 2026. Chloe is now in second grade and loves spending time with her younger cousin and playing basketball. She continues to get maintenance scans every three months and shows no more signs of cancer.
When she grows up, Chloe wants to be a nurse “for grown-ups that are scared because they have to get surgery, I’ll teach them how to not be scared. I’m basically like a pro.”
To ensure that THON is able to donate 96 cents of every dollar raised to Four Diamonds at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, we heavily rely on donor support. These donations provide us the resources to create endless memories for our Four Diamonds families & foster a deep love & connection to our mission for our volunteers through Pre-THON Events, alternative fundraisers, & THON Weekend.
