Leah Willover is a 10-year-old who takes your breath away.

It’s not just the radiant brown eyes, or the energy that lights up her face, but a spiritual grace unusual in a child so young.

Then you hear about the battle she has been waging over the past six months.

It began in July when Valerie Willover, Leah’s mother, discovered “a big knot” under her eldest daughter’s rib cage. Leah had been nauseous and not “feeling like herself” for several weeks.

A visit to the doctor and follow-up tests revealed that Leah had hepatocellular carcinoma, a relatively rare form of liver cancer.

“It was terrifying, something you think happens to other people,” Valerie Willover said. “They had told us from the beginning these tumors were rarely benign.”

Once the diagnosis was made, doctors at the oncology center at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento began chemotherapy treatment.

An optimist at heart, Leah thought she would “do the chemo that would take out the tumor and be back in school in September.”

When two full rounds of chemotherapy failed to significantly reduce the tumor, Leah’s parents were referred to Stanford University’s Pediatric Transplant Program at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto and placed on a donor registry.

By October, Leah had lost 20 pounds, a quarter of her weight.

At Our Lady of Grace School in West Sacramento, where Leah and her eight-year-old sister, Hannah, attend school, a “green bracelet initiative” to fund a donor drive was launched.

Green bracelets engraved with the message, “Leah — Up for the Fight,” were soon being worn by students, parents and staff at Our Lady of Grace School.

A “Harvest Dinner” held at the school and supported by West Sacramento-area residents raised $90,000 to support the donor drive.

“It was really a blessing to see so many people give so much and care so much about someone they never met,” said Josh Rucker, principal of Our Lady of Grace School.

The Catholic Schools Department also sent out e-mail messages throughout the diocese and more than 1,000 bracelets were distributed to Catholic schools.

One of them was St. Ignatius School in Sacramento. Principal Patricia Lane said not only did the school purchase several hundred bracelets which were sold to families, but three third graders wanted to do more.

“One girl said we’re a community and we’re supposed to take care of each other and that’s what we’re doing,” Lane said.

Green bracelets started popping up everywhere and instantly Leah’s name was added to prayer lists throughout the greater Sacramento area.

Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia recalled stopping by the Willovers’ home to visit the family as they waited for news of a donor.

“They are a faith-filled family and their chain of friends are as well,” he said. “It is like a whole umbrella of people lifting her up to God.”

Another visitor was Valerie Willover’s nephew, Father Jeremy Leatherby, who was ordained to the priesthood last year.

After praying with the Willovers, Father Leatherby left with them a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Carmelite nun canonized in 1925.

On Oct. 12 their prayers were answered, when the Willovers were informed that a donor had been found for Leah.

“It was a little 10-year-old girl, who was the perfect size. We were ecstatic for ourselves, but it instantly hits you there is this other family that is suffering,” Valerie Willover said.

Leah underwent successful liver transplant surgery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital on Oct. 20.

Sister Michael Henry Moulin, a Daughter of the Holy Spirit and former principal of Our Lady of Grace School, recalls a visit she paid to Leah following surgery.

“In my opinion, Leah is a modern day St. Therese,” said Sister Moulin, who was Leah’s fourth grade religion teacher and knew her on a spiritual level. “She soaked (religion) up like a sponge. Nothing else mattered. It was just totally genuine.”

Sister Moulin will not forget one conversation she had during a visit to Leah’s home recently.

“I asked if she had any connection with the donor’s parents and she told me she was so sad for them losing their daughter,” she said.

Valerie Willover said in part because some members of her family have been organ donors, she has long been an advocate of organ donation. “To extend someone’s life, you see the circle of life,” she said. “My child passed away, but someone else continues.”

It is a concept upon which 10-year-old Leah has formed her own opinion.

“I don’t know why people don’t donate their organs. If the body is sacred, it should be sacred enough to live in other people,” Leah Willover said.

The Willover family hopes to meet the donor’s family at a future time and understands that it may be possible a year from now.

On Jan. 3, Leah returned to Our Lady of Grace School for a joyful reunion with her classmates.

A week later, she had a successful bio-reconstruction procedure performed at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and plans to return to school soon.

Donor drive is ongoing

Working in collaboration with Golden State Donor Services, the Diocese of Sacramento is encouraging parishioners to pick up free materials promoting organ and tissue donation that are available at parishes throughout the diocese.

In December, in a letter to pastors, Bishop William K. Weigand endorsed the “12 Weeks of Giving” campaign, Nov. 20 through Feb. 14, a national campaign to sign up 400,000 Americans as organ and tissue donors.

In California, there are two ways to register as a donor: online at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or through the California Department of Motor Vehicles when obtaining a driver’s license.

Since the online database was linked to the Department of Motor Vehicles in July, organ donors at Donate Life California have tripled from 280,000 names to more than 830,000.

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