MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A boy whose parents feared he would never walk again was among the 2,000 who took on The Live Like Bella Childhood Cancer Foundation’s event on Sunday morning at Tropical Park in Miami-Dade County.
Shannah Rodriguez-Torres, the founder of the foundation, said the boy found strength in prayer and asked Bella to intercede for him after he was injured in an accident.
“We have been able to provide over $38 million in funding for pediatric cancer alone. We have assisted families in 38 countries around the world,” Rodriguez-Torres said. “We are doing all that we can to help these children and their families.”
Rodriguez-Torres’s daughter, Bella, was born on Dec. 12, 2002, and after becoming paralyzed at 4, she was diagnosed with stage four alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare, aggressive soft tissue cancer.
“We found out she had a tumor wrapped around her spine and eight tumors wrapped around her body,” Rodriguez-Torres said.
Rodriguez-Torres said doctors expected her not to walk again and only live a few months. Bella defied the expectation.
“She learned to walk, run, jump, and bicycle, and she lived her life to the fullest every single day that she was able,” Rodriguez-Torres said.
Bella died at 10 years old on May 28, 2013, and she has been the inspiration behind Rodriguez-Torres’s activism. For more information about the foundation, visit this page.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
