Zion Knowles

Zion is an enthusiastic, 10 year old, walking miracle. Zion is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with leukemia 2012. She faced many challenges and obstables over several years. Still, Zion fought bravely to overcome the disease and was victorious. Her courageous battle gave her the confident, outspoken and sociable personality she has today.

Zion Knowles was only 4 years old when she was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute dLympoblasic Leukemia (ALL) of June 25th, 2012. She began chemotherapy treatment on July 2nd, 2012 at a Children’s Hospital in Miami, Florida and quickly went into remission. However, we were faced with many trials and life threatening situations from the start of Zion’s treatment. She suffered through pancreatitis, frequent seizures, amnesia, and hallucinations, requiring her to be admitted into ICU for nearly one month.

By the grace of God, we made it through that critical period, though some complications persisted throughout her treatment. Zion continued her chemotherapy until May 2013, when we discovered that she has relapsed and the leukemia returned. At that point, doctors advised us that Zion’s best option was to receive a bone marrow transplant. After months of searching a preparation, an 80% match was found and Zion received a stem-cell transplant from an anonymous umbilical cord donor, on November 19th, 2013.

Through all of that, Zion was brave, understanding, positive and faithful. Zion progressed well enough to make a few short trips home to the Bahamas in 2014. She was able to celebrate her birthday during a trip to Nassau for the first time in 2 years. Zion was on a daily regimen of 16 different types of medication for most of her treatment and remained on them until her doctors started reducing them in 2015. Now, Zion is fully recovered from her Lukemia and is able to resume a normal life. She is finally home in The Bahamas, after 3 years of living in the United States. Zion’s mother, Ancilla Knowles, remained with her in the US for the entire duration of her treatment.