WAUKESHA, Wis. — Meet Zuza Beine.
Her dance moves, sweet smile, and expressive eyes helped capture the hearts of tens of thousands of followers on social media. She says she loves to dance because "it makes me happy."
She has some 100,000 thousand followers on her Instagram account, @zuzas_way_to_healing and they love her dancing too. That's a number she never thought she would reach.
"I didn't think it would blow-up that much. I thought it would be online friends or my mom's Facebook friends following me."
Zuza also says she started her account because she wanted to share her journey with other people. "I wanted to help other kids who were going through the same things as me."
Those things have to do with cancer. Zuza is fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia or AML. She's been fighting for eight of her young 11 years. And now, it's back. After undergoing chemotherapy and two bone marrow transplants during COVID, the cancer returned earlier this year.
Her mother, Dagmara says "You try to live in the present, but it doesn't mean that you're able to all the time. It's also like holding our breath for eight years."
She first noticed something wasn't right when Zuza was just three years old.
"Her behaviors, just being unhappy, the leg pains at night, the lack of appetite," with both Dagmara and Zuza's father, Ryan, in the medical field, they drew on their knowledge to advocate for their daughter.
Dagmara even went back to school and earned a doctorate in Integrative Medicine.
Ryan says, "We are not denouncing Western medicine. Western medicine can be a complement of other things that we can do to make your journey easier. One of the reasons Z's been this amazing story is because of her will, her passion, and will to live."
For Zuza to even be considered for a rare, third transplant, she has to be in remission first. The family is hoping she can get into a special medical trial in Chicago.
"To get that approval and to get that medicine going, which we believe is going to get her in remission, to get that going before she feels like she did last time is super important to all of us," according to father, Ryan.
As the family waits, they live, giving Zuza and her little brother, Fin, visits to water parks and beaches.
Zuza was even gifted tickets to a Taylor Swift concert in Florida this past weekend. Zuza shared the trip with her followers on social media... as they continue to help each other.
"They've said like I've made them feel more normal and not weird," Zuza said.
When asked how those positive messages make her feel, Zuza said, "it makes me feel happy because it makes me feel like I'm making a difference in the world."
Through their experience and Dagmara's Ph.D., the family opened 'Zuza's Way Integrative Care' in Thiensville, to support children and adults with cancer.
You can find more information about it, here.
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