HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Gemma Moschetto shares jokes during her appointments with Dr. Brian Cauff, her oncologist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood.

The 7-year-old pediatric cancer survivor recently walked into Cauff’s office wearing a magenta pink T-shirt with a rainbow.

Gemma wore her hair in half-up pigtails with bright yellow bands. The nurses hugged her. She talked about her dream of becoming a veterinarian.

“I really want to help animals,” Gemma said. “I really want to make them feel better.”

Gemma is a survivor of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

“We are at a point now where over 80% of children who are diagnosed with cancer are cured,” Cauff said. “In a disease like Gemma’s, it’s much higher, it’s over 90%.”

Gemma’s mother, Julie Torsiello, described the journey after diagnosis as a rollercoaster. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s terrifying. It’s a parents’ worst nightmare,” Torsiello said. During her years of treatment, Gemma met Brodie The Goldendoodle, and Ron Magill gave her a tour of ZooMiami.Last May, Gemma rang the bell and did a victory spin to mark that she was cancer-free.

Gemma Moschetto’s story of survival shows how far pediatric cancer treatments have come

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Kristi Krueger