By JESSICA SIEFF
Dowagiac Daily News

NILES – Jamie Howard, of Dowagiac, would strike anyone as a typical 4-year old.

Her face twitches with the easy animation only childlike wonder can produce.

Just as quickly as she lights up, smiling wide and strutting a pose, Jamie can recoil into a simple shyness.

But that smile is triumphant and it returns in the blink of an eye.

She is no ordinary 4-year-old.

At such a tender age, Jamie is a cancer survivor.

And on this day, she’s at Tippy Toes in Niles for a little princess-style pampering.

Earlier this month, her mother, Kimberly Howard, said doctors found a Wilms tumor on her daughter’s left kidney.

“She’d been sick for quite some time,” Howard said.

Doctors thought Jamie was suffering from some sort of viral infection.

Her mother said her persistence led to the reveal of the tumor and her daughter’s frightening diagnosis.

Wilms is described by the American Cancer Society (ACS) as “the most common type of kidney cancer in children.”

The tumor often only affects one kidney, according to the ACS, and the average weight of a tumor once noticed is about one pound – “many times larger than the kidney in which it developed.”

Diagnosed on Friday, June 4, Jamie was scheduled for surgery Monday, June 7, and doctors removed her left kidney.

“Now she’s doing four and a half months of chemotherapy,” said Linda Minnix of Cass County Cancer Service.

Minnix was put in touch with the Howards through a relative.

The organization put together a spa day for the young survivor, who may soon find herself facing the effects of chemotherapy treatments.

Cass County Cancer Service aids area families dealing with the impact of cancer through providing things such as gas cards, phone cards or help with bills up to $600.

“That gives them a gap time to see what other services are out there,” Minnix said.

The organization has been helping area residents dealing with cancer since 1991.

“It was kind of a well-kept secret until the last few years,” Minnix said. It’s growing in visibility, but the organization is “always looking for volunteers.”

Atop a salon chair, her feet immersed in bubbling water and propped against a shaggy pink pillow with a tiara in her blonde hair, Jamie is getting a princess pedicure and manicure at Tippy Toes, along with her sister and two friends.

“I think she’s doing better with it now,” Howard said of her daughter’s coping with the diagnosis.

For the 4-year-old, her mother explained, the experience was understandably scary and on top of it all, it happened so fast.

“She just bounced back real well,” Howard said.

“As long as the other kidney stays healthy,” she added, doctors “believe she’ll live a long life.”

Still, as she watches her daughter, concern remains in her voice.

“But that’s not a guarantee,” she said.

Thought she doesn’t go into too much detail, the strain over the events of the last few weeks is evident.

Howard said she’s had some people question her choices in moving forward with the surgery and treatment.

But even with the effects of chemotherapy treatments looming, the purpose and the speciality of this day is not lost on her.

As Jamie giggled, her feet still soaked in water, her mother remarked about her first trip to the spa, “She’s never had anything like this.”

“There’s a possibility she might lose her hair,” she said, which is what led the Cancer Service to organize the spa day.

Howard said she’d talked about what could happen with Jamie, and Minnix said the Cancer Service is working on ways to help.

“She acts like she’s OK with it,” Howard said. “She says she understands.”

Jamie has had two treatments already.

The 4-year-old’s face twists and turns as her pedicurist explains every step, letting her breathe in the scent of a mango sugar scrub.

She breaks into shy giggles because she’s ticklish, all the while turning her attention to her sister in the chair next to her.

“Are you having fun?” Jamie asked with sincere concern.

Asked the same question, Jamie nods her head, then quickly turns her attention back to her feet.

“That hurts,” she said, cautiously.

Just as quickly as she winces, she giggles. She is, after all, quite ticklish.

To contact  Cass County Cancer Service in regard to the Howard family or to volunteer, call its answering service at (269) 699-5551.