ODESSA, Texas — At only five years old, Penelope Cisneros is already fighting a battle that many little girls her age shouldn't have to: cancer.
Penelope was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor, a form of kidney cancer, in late March and has been undergoing treatment since April 1.
Her family, however, wasn't about to let her feel isolated in her fight.
Steve Garcia is related to Penelope's father and works for the City of Odessa in the engineering department. When he heard the news, he ran to his phone to see who he could gather to send support her way.
Turns out, getting that support was easy.
“One call. It was not much. Just call them one time and the said yes right away," Garcia said. "It was 'hey, there's this five year old girl - yes.' I didn't even get to finish the sentence and they were right in it right away.”
Fast forward to Wednesday and members of the West Texas Desert Hawks, the Odessa Police Department and Odessa Fire and Rescue gathered at Burnet Elementary School and drove a caravan directly to her home to show their support. They left Penelope and her family speechless.
All of these different groups have different occupations and goals. Some catch touchdowns on the football field. Others rush out across the city to save lives.
On May 29, however, they had the same goal: put a smile on Penelope's face.
"Really and truly, that's what brings West Texas together. It's the fire department, the police department, it's the football teams, it's the schools, it's the kids, it's the community, it's what we're about you know," West Texas Desert Hawks Owner Zach Bugg said. "If there's one thing we can do to get back that's exactly what we're trying to do.”
Odessa has always been a home for Penelope and her family. She got six rounds of radiation done in Dallas before coming back to finish her chemotherapy in Midland.
With everything happening so suddenly though and Penelope missing her family, the decision was made to bring her back home so she could be around the family she knows and loves.
“She's, you know, missing home and our familiarity," her mother Jennefer Villa said. "We were there for about a month. We just kind of got our lives turned upside down in one night.”
While her family may be small, it still gives her all the support and love she needs. Adding in an entire community's support, though, brings a type of kindness that was felt by the whole family.
“It takes a village to raise a child. I mean, my village is pretty small and it's growing," Villa said. "I feel like with the community, it's been it's been a very blessing. It's a big blessing for us.”
Even in the hardest of times, hope is still out there. In Odessa on Wednesday, May 29, there was plenty of hope to go around.
“It represents unity and that there's still hope. There's still the community still comes together and they still help, it's just a matter of reaching out. That's all it is," Garcia said. "People think there isn't any. All you do is reach out. It shows hope that people still care.”