Suburban Girl, 8, Dies Christmas Day After Years Fighting Cancer

OAK FOREST, IL — A little girl whose final days of courage and fight against a childhood cancer touched many died Christmas morning, her family told Patch. Analia Garcia-Pinto fought cancer for half her life.

Analia, who was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma at the age of 4 years old,
"always kept a smile on her face even through the pain, she never let people see her down, and she always told anyone who asked," a family member wrote in a GoFundMe for the family.

Analia's mother Grace Pinto—an Oak Forest native—made sure to give Analia last days she could enjoy. Last month, the 8-year-old was treated to a "princess party"—an afternoon of girly glam, giggles and glitz—courtesy of one of Pinto's former high school classmates Cheyenne Wiley, owner of CheyeWild salon in Frankfort.

The day was meant as pampering and relief from years of pain and treatments, her mother previously told Patch. The tiny girl with brown locks and wide, deep brown eyes had a spunk that didn't let on that she'd gone through most conceivable treatments, only for doctors to say in the fall that her cancer had taken over her right lung, and was now terminal. They struggled with telling Analia her prognosis, she said, and focused on giving Analia peaceful, fun final days.

"We haven’t told her the full outcome, because how do you explain to an 8-year-old that they're dying?" she said. "I don’t want her to suffer. I want her to go peacefully. I don’t want her to be in pain. I want her to be content."

Her family has started the GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.

"She was a ball of light!" the organizer wrote. "She was a very loving soul, she was a loving daughter, sister, granddaughter, and niece. There is so much more to be said about this LOVING SOUL!"

Service information was not available as of Dec. 27.