Benefit set for 10-month-old with liver cancer

People in Havre Thursday have a chance to help an infant girl who is undergoing surgery today in Seattle.

Havre’s Pizza Hut is holding a benefit Thursday for 10-month-old Payton KillEagle, whose grandmother Iris KillEagle said was having surgery today to remove a cancerous tumor from her liver.

“They tell us she’ll be (in Seattle) through June,” KillEagle said.

She said the problem was discovered about two months ago, when Payton was 8 months old.

Payton had been undergoing chemotherapy, which has been halted until she has recovered from the surgery to remove the tumor.

KillEagle said that chemotherapy will resume in about three weeks.

Payton is in Seattle with Iris and her father, Dodson High School graduate Wesley KillEagle Jr., the sole provider for his family, and his other daughter, Ivis, 2 1/2, and his brother Clayton. His sister Deserae and her two daughters also joined the family in Seattle, the Phillips County News reported.

Along with accounts set up to help pay for the expenses, if people buying a meal from Havre’s Pizza Hut Thursday say they want to donate to Payton, 20 percent of the purchase price will go to her account.

Payton’s day care provider, Sue Hungerford, first found signs of the cancer when she noticed a lump under Payton’s rib cage, the Phillips County News reported. Payton — who has been given the nickname PayPay — was taken to the hospital at Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, then to Havre, then back to Fort Belknap, then to Great Falls.

Wesley KillEagle then took Payton to Seattle Jan. 24, where doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital diagnosed the cancer.

Chemotherapy reduced the size of the tumor, allowing for today’s surgery, Phillips County News reported.

Phillips County News reported that many have stepped up to help the family, including people and businesses across the county donating money to help Wesley KillEagle and his two daughters in their time of need, including area schools donating money generated at basketball games, bars and restaurants holding auctions and feeds, and other businesses donating money associated with certain sales.

Along with Thursday’s Pizza Hut benefit in Havre, people can contribute to the Princess PayPay account at First Security Bank in Malta or online at http://www.gofundme.com/princess-paypay-medical-care or contact Francine KillEagle at Dodson School.