4-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Named Hawaii's CMN Champion

A four-year-old girl who fought one of childhood's toughest battles is now giving hope to families across the Hawaiian Islands.

Seeley Borges earned the title of Hawaii's 2026 Children's Miracle Network Champion for Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children at a ceremony held Wednesday. The honor recognizes her incredible journey from a critically ill newborn to a thriving preschooler.

Seeley's fight began when she was just weeks old. After developing a fever shortly after birth, doctors on Kauai discovered an alarmingly high white blood cell count. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and aggressive cancer that attacks the blood and bone marrow.

Medical teams rushed Seeley from Kauai to Oahu for urgent treatment. She endured multiple rounds of chemotherapy, but her body needed more help to beat the disease. Doctors determined she needed a bone marrow transplant to survive.

When no perfect donor match appeared in the registry, medical teams found another path forward. Seeley traveled to Seattle for a clinical trial that allowed her mother to serve as her donor, even without a perfect match.

The treatment worked. Today, Seeley is in remission and returns to Kapiolani every few months for checkups. She runs, plays, and lives the childhood that once seemed impossible.

Why This Inspires

Seeley's story carries weight beyond one family's victory. Her father Shawn put it simply: "Seeing her go through all that adversity proves you can make it through anything in life."

As Hawaii's CMN Champion, Seeley and her family will spend the next year sharing their experience with communities across the islands. They'll help raise awareness about the specialized pediatric care that gives children fighting serious illnesses their best chance at survival.

Their story also highlights the power of medical innovation. Clinical trials like the one that saved Seeley are opening doors for families who once had no options. When traditional matches fail, creative solutions are giving kids second chances.

Seeley's journey from a critically ill newborn to a champion for other children shows what's possible when families refuse to give up and medical teams refuse to stop searching for answers.