CHRIS CROOK Hannah Moody does crafts with her sister Allie, 5 in their Adamsville home. Hannah, 3, has a rare form of kidney cancer, but recent x-rays show great improvement. Hannah Moody

ADAMSVILLE -- Hannah Moody's day starts out differently from most 3-year-olds. She wakes up between 7 and 8 a.m., but rather than making the tough decision of whether to eat Froot Loops or Lucky Charms for breakfast, she faces a morning of medicine and machines.

In September, Hannah was diagnosed with Wilms' Tumor Stage 4 Difuse Anaplasis, a rare form of kidney cancer which begins to form in a fetus. After the diagnosis, Hannah had surgery to install a broviac catheter and had her infected kidney removed. Unfortunately, before the kidney could be removed, the cancer had spread through Hannah's bloodstream and infected her lungs. Doctors gave her a 40 percent chance of surviving for 5 or more years.

Hannah has undergone a lot since the diagnosis, including multiple trips to the hospital for infections in her catheter, a viral infection, the flu, an ear infection, Shingles, a swollen liver and now, chemotherapy. She even spent Christmas Day in Children's Hospital in Columbus, confined in isolation with only her parents and doctors allowed in.

"The nurse practicioner brought her a Christmas tree," Hannah's mother Connie Moody said. "That was nice. They brought her gifts too. And (someone dressed as) Santa Claus came around and stood outside the door and waved."

Hannah's doing better, but still has a long road in front of her. Through all the adversity she tries hard to be a normal 3-year-old.

In the mornings, Hannah takes two medications for mouth care as the chemotherapy causes sores in her mouth and throat. She also takes the first of three antibiotics which are given to her through the catheter in her chest.

She doesn't eat, except for a few nibbles here and there. She gets her calories and nutrition through a machine called the Total Parental Nutrition. The machine contains a fluid similar to milk, which is pumped through a tube connected to her catheter.

Hannah's mother Connie stays home to care for her youngest daughter while her two other children, Steven, 13, and Allie, 5, go to school and her husband, Brian goes to work.

During the day, Hannah is confined to indoor sit-down activities.

"She can't be too active," Connie said. "She can when she feels good and is healthy, but this week, her platelets are low and she can't do a lot because she could get hurt and bleed to death."

Connie said her daughter is good with her hands and especially enjoys doing arts and crafts.

"Play-Doh is her favorite toy," Connie said.

Hannah loves animals, especially the family cat Mittens and Chihuahua-terrier mix Jake who is kept outdoors.

"(The doctors) let us keep the cat in the house, but at night the cat has to be in the basement because it tries to eat her (Total Parental Nutrition medication)."

Nighttime is when Hannah is at her best, as her entire family is at home.

"We have to keep her calm," Connie said. "When she gets around the other kids she gets excited, so we try to do calm activities."

The family watches television, and Allie and Hannah will sit at the computer and play games on the Barbie Web site.

"Hannah tells Allie what she wants to do, and Allie will move the mouse around," Connie said.

After four months of hardship and hospital trips, the Moodys were given some good news at the beginning of January. A CAT scan revealed there were no cancer cells in Hannah's abdominal area, and her lungs had improved 95 percent.

"The CAT scan showed five smudges on her left lung and one or two on the right," Connie said. "And the doctors said that may just be scar tissue."

While she was in the hospital, Hannah did not undergo chemotherapy. Now that she is healthy and over her infections, the chemo treatments will begin again.

"She has 33 more weeks of treatment," Connie said. "And at the end of the treatment they'll do another CAT scan. If the smudges (on her lungs) are still there, they'll do a lung biopsy."

Despite the good news, the doctors have kept Hannah's prognosis the same, but Connie is looking on the bright side of things.

"(Hannah's) a fighter, she's really hanging in there," Connie said. "She's going to make it all the way."

Connie took advantage of her oldest children's day off from school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and took her three children to the River Deli on Wayne Avenue in Zanesville for lunch. Hannah trotted around the restaurant delighting the employees and coyly tried to slip away from her mother and into the kitchen.

"I want to help cook something," Hannah said.

As they were leaving, Hannah asked for a goodie and was rewarded with a brownie. Although she's sick, she is not immune to the lure of chocolate. She clutched the dessert to her chest and walked back out into the dining room.

"I got a brownie," she told her mother.

"Yes, you did," Connie said.

"But you can't have any because I'm sick," Hannah explained.

Connie smiled and helped her daughter put on a white surgical mask and pulled a hat down over the few wispy hairs Hannah has left.

Hannah may feel self-conscious about losing her hair, but she has someone in the battle with her. Her father, Brian, shaved his head a few weeks ago when Hannah began losing her hair.

"It's something he's going to continue to do until her hair comes back," Connie said.

Hannah still has a long road to travel. Because she spent so much time in the hospital, and will continue to undergo chemo treatments, she has lost a lot of her strength.

"A physical therapist and an occupational therapist met with her to assess what she might need," Connie said. "They came in and worked with her in the hospital. They're doing different exercises to get her strength back."

Hannah went back to Children's Hospital in Columbus Friday for another round of chemotherapy. If everything goes well, she will be able to come home on Wednesday. While Connie is in Columbus, Steven and Allie will spend the time with Brian's father.

Connie said Steven and Allie have learned to cope with their sister's illness.

"In the beginning, they were afraid to touch her," Connie said. "My son was old enough to go on the computer and read about chemo and the different drugs. He was afraid that by touching her, he might get sick, but that's a myth."

Now, Steven helps care for Hannah on weekend mornings.

"She's emotional," Connie said of Hannah. "When she's around her brother and sister, she's in a really good mood. Obviously, she doesn't have as much energy as the other kids, but I think she's doing really well."

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Originally published Saturday, January 24, 2004