When Kellan Hilson‘s mom told her someone would walk with her on the runway at Rally on the Runway, the 5-year old Okaloosa County girl wasn’t having it.

• “I don’t need you to walk on stage with me,” Kellan told her mother, Leianna Cooper. When Cooper explained it would be someone else escorting her, Kellan relented. “Oh, okay, well then that’s fine.”

It was a far cry from the nerves Kellan had been carrying in the days leading up to the event. She had told her teacher she didn’t think she could do it. But after a pampering day where she picked out her outfit — “totally her element,” Cooper said — something shifted. Kellan went from anxious to ready.

On the night of March 26, she led the show. 

She was the first Rally Kid to walk the runway at Rally Gulf Coast’s 8th annual Rally on the Runway, held at the Brownsville Community Center in Pensacola. Pensacola Ice Flyers owner Greg Harris served as her celebrity escort. And she didn’t want to leave the stage.

• “She just felt extremely special, and that’s just what I desire for her,” Cooper said. “I just want her to be celebrated. I want her journey to be honored. I want her to know that she is incredibly brave, that she’s so special, and that what she’s gone through is more than just a battle.”

Kellan, who has been fighting leukemia since her diagnosis on April 16, 2024, was one of several Rally Kids featured at the event, which raised $729,290 for childhood cancer research and family support programs. Celebrity escorts also included Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons, WEAR-TV meteorologist Allen Strum and Miss University of South Alabama and two-time childhood cancer survivor Sydnee Cantley.

She wasn’t the only Okaloosa County child represented that night. Lita Danlag, mother of toddler Rupi Danlag, took the stage to speak on behalf of her daughter, who is battling an aggressive form of solid tumor cancer and is currently on a clinical trial.

Her message was direct.

“I was there to encourage attendees to be a participant in raising funds for this cause and letting them know, not just statistics, not numbers, but giving them a face to what it is that they’re contributing to,” Danlag said. “These are the kids that are living in our communities, families that are walking this, and I think that just makes it more personable for them.”

Among the highlights of the evening was a speech by Rally Kid Nohea, who is beating blood cancer. Danlag said she was struck by Nohea’s bravery.

• “Just the bravery that she had to just get up there and be such a joy and light to people and be encouraging — showing what a community can do for a child,” Danlag said. “It really was heartwarming because I see my daughter, and although she’s young, I want her to grow up knowing that there’s a whole community here that is supporting you and cheering for you.”

Nohea also made an impression on Kellan. Cooper said the two had originally met in the hospital, and before leaving the event, Kellan was adamant about finding Nohea to give her a hug and say goodbye.

Rupi is on cycle 13 of 14 in her clinical trial. But her treatment has grown more aggressive toward the end, and her most recent scans still showed several nodules in both lungs. The family is consulting with St. Jude Children’s Hospital about a possible lung surgery and awaiting word on whether Rupi will be accepted into a clinical trial there.

“We just want to go to a place where they have a higher volume of these types of cases so that they can go in and take out as much as they need to while preserving as much lung tissue,” Danlag said.

Despite the weight of treatment, Danlag said Rupi remains full of life. Over the Easter holiday, she spent six hours in the pool. She’s in play therapy, still sees friends and still wants to take on each day.

• “You wouldn’t know that she was sick at all,” Danlag said. “If she had hair, you would not know.”

Kellan’s road has been long as well. Cooper said the first 28 days of treatment changed her daughter the most physically. What followed were months of frequent hospital visits, IV medications and clinic appointments. She eventually moved into what’s called maintenance, which Cooper said was expected to be easier but turned out to be the hardest stretch, including lengthy hospitalizations.

Now, though, the end is in sight. Kellan’s port removal and final IV chemotherapy session are scheduled for June 8 — six days after her 6th birthday. Her last dose of oral chemotherapy is set for July 2. A ceremony to mark the end of treatment is planned for around July 8.

Both families were connected to Rally Gulf Coast early in their children’s diagnoses. Cooper said Haley Scarberry, Rally Kid and Program Manager for Rally Gulf Coast, introduced herself within the first day or two of Kellan’s hospitalization, bringing toys for Kellan and a bag of essentials for Cooper.

“They were the only organization to have something for the parent,” Cooper said.

Danlag described a similar experience. Scarberry was among the first people to enter the room after Rupi’s diagnosis, which Danlag said came overnight and felt like a fever dream.

• “During that time, it’s a lot of turmoil, a lot of emotions,” Danlag said. “But Haley consistently showed up and always asked us what we needed. She was always ready to meet us where we were.”

Rally Gulf Coast has provided both families with financial support, meals during hospital stays and connections to other families walking the same road. Danlag said the organization helped cover hotel and travel costs when Rupi needed scans and radiation in Jacksonville.

Cooper said what sets Rally apart from other foundations is the personal connection.

“This is the only organization where I have a personal cell phone number,” Cooper said. “Haley has my coffee order in her notes. That’s how personable they are.”

Both mothers spoke about the isolation that comes with a child’s cancer diagnosis. Cooper described it as a world where everyone else moves on while yours stops.

• “Initially, everybody’s stopping, looking and checking in,” Cooper said. “But then, like with anything else, everybody just moves on and you’re just kind of stuck in this world, which is incredibly lonely.”

She said sitting at the Rally Foundation table at the runway event, surrounded by other cancer parents she had never met, brought an immediate sense of understanding.

“I didn’t even have to explain anything to any of the other moms,” Cooper said. “You just feel the sense of commonality and understanding. You don’t have to explain anything to them.”

Danlag echoed that sentiment, saying childhood cancer can feel isolating in ways people don’t always recognize.

“It affects finances. It affects employment, mental health, marriages, relationships,” Danlag said. “A lot of people see it as just the hospital bills. But childhood cancer really tries to take so much from you.”

She added that the need for support doesn’t end when treatment does.

Rally Gulf Coast has raised nearly $8 million for childhood cancer research and family support since its founding. Based on independently audited financials, 93 cents of every dollar raised supports Rally’s mission. The national Rally Foundation has invested $40.5 million in research and helped secure $317.5 million in federal funding for pediatric, adolescent and young adult cancer research.

• The runway event was supported by title sponsor Sandy Sansing Dealerships and presenting sponsors the Bear Family Foundation and Lucy Trawick.

For Danlag, speaking that night was about more than one event or one dollar amount. It was about the children who come next.

“I hope that the next kid, the next generation that sees this disease process, that those parents have more choices,” she said. “And that’s why we’ve decided, at the beginning, that we were going to have Rupi on the clinical trial — not just to help her, but to help the future children that will get diagnosed.”

Kellan, meanwhile, had her own way of processing the evening. After insisting on getting back on stage one more time and showing her mom the special room backstage, she passed out on the ride home after a busy night on the runway.