Expecting parents often walk into a 20-week ultrasound filled with excitement, counting down the moments until they can see their baby on the screen. For parents Payton and Riley of Cheyenne, that joy quickly turned to fear when doctors noticed their unborn daughter, Dorothy, had abnormally enlarged kidneys.
Payton’s pregnancy shifted from routine to high-risk, and Dorothy was closely monitored by specialists in Denver before and after her birth. Doctors told her parents that Dorothy would need to begin antibiotics immediately and remain on them for the first five years of her life, with ongoing follow-up care and the possibility of surgery. For the first year, everything pointed to a long, carefully managed road ahead — until shortly after Dorothy’s first birthday, when it became clear something more serious was wrong.
“I’m a nurse, and there was one night that I’ll never forget where she just could not settle,” her mom, Payton, said. “Her stomach was distended, she was in pain, and it felt like nothing could comfort her.”
After a series of tests and trips between Cheyenne and Denver, an MRI revealed a tumor the size of a grapefruit growing from Dorothy’s tailbone into her abdomen, blocking her bladder and spreading to her liver. The diagnosis was a mixed germ cell sacrococcygeal teratoma, a rare form of childhood cancer.
“The pain of having a child with cancer is beyond words,” explained Payton. “As a nurse, I had worked on the oncology floor, so I could imagine what cancer might look like for my husband or me someday — but never in my wildest dreams would it be my baby.”
From June to October of 2023, Dorothy underwent four rounds of chemotherapy at Children’s Hospital Colorado, followed by an extensive 13-hour surgery to remove the tumor — far longer and more complicated than doctors initially expected. The tumor had adhered to her internal organs, requiring painstaking precision. She returned to surgery again just days later to ensure it was fully removed.
“It was terrifying,” Payton recalls. “Sitting in the waiting room hour after hour, watching everyone leave until we were the only ones left — it felt unreal.”
And yet, Dorothy amazed everyone.
Despite predictions that she might regress developmentally or suffer permanent nerve damage, she didn’t. She took her first steps during treatment. She learned. She played. She healed. Today, she’s thriving — physically, cognitively, joyfully — and her follow-up appointments have finally stretched from every few months to once every six months.
The Help That Made Presence Possible
When Dorothy was diagnosed, her family faced a daunting reality: Wyoming has no pediatric oncology center. Every treatment meant traveling out of state, navigating unfamiliar hospitals and managing financial and logistical challenges.
Early in Dorothy’s diagnosis, a hospital social worker recognized that the family was from Wyoming and immediately connected them with Jason’s Friends Foundation, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to Wyoming families whose children are diagnosed with cancer or brain or spinal cord tumors. Jason’s Friends helps cover travel expenses (fuel, lodging, airfare, meals) and everyday living expenses (mortgage and rent payments, car payments, phone bills, utilities, etc.) so that Wyoming families can focus on what is most important — their children.
Before Dorothy’s family even fully understood the road ahead, support was already in motion. Jason’s Friends stepped in immediately and helped cover essential bills, travel costs, gas and meals — relieving financial pressure at a time when survival, not spreadsheets, needed to be the priority.
“When your child is fighting cancer, the world doesn’t stop,” Dorothy’s mom explains. “Your bills continue to roll in. You still need gas. You still need food. Jason’s Friends took those worries off our plate so we could be fully present — not just physically, but emotionally — with Dorothy.”
That presence mattered. It meant Dorothy was never alone. It meant her parents didn’t have to choose between work and their child’s hospital bed. It meant that during the worst days of their lives, even though they were miles from home, they were supported by a community that understood.
Bowl for Jason’s Friends
It is that support from the Wyoming community that ensures the 182 families Jason’s Friends is currently assisting can focus on what matters most: being present with their children during treatment. Since its founding, Jason’s Friends has provided over $9 million in financial assistance. But they cannot do it alone. Each spring, they host their only fundraiser of the year — Bowl for Jason’s Friends.
This year, the 28th annual event in Casper will take place Saturday, Feb. 28 at El Mark-O Lanes. For the fourth year, Jason’s Friends will also host Bowl for Jason’s Friends in Gillette on Saturday, March 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Camelanes Bowling Center. New this year, Jason’s Friends is excited to launch a third location with the 1st Annual Bowl for Jason’s Friends in Cheyenne, taking place Saturday, March 7 from 1 to 5 p.m. at Derby Lanes.
Dorothy’s mom, Payton, has helped organize the Cheyenne event and was instrumental in bringing the event to Cheyenne. After experiencing firsthand what it means to be a Wyoming family forced to seek cancer care far from home, Payton wanted to help ensure other families would have the same support her own family received.
“For our first year, I have been so impressed by the response that we’ve had,” said Payton. “When you talk about Wyoming kids with cancer, people feel differently — it hits closer to home. People want to help children with cancer, but when they know it’s families from their own community, it really strikes another chord.”
Bowlers form five-person fundraising teams, sign up for a one-hour bowling time slot and collect donations prior to bowling. Each bowler must raise at least $100 to participate and to receive a free T-shirt. Prizes are awarded to top fundraisers, and every $100 raised earns additional entries into prize drawings.
This fun, family-friendly event not only brings the Wyoming community together, but also directly supports families facing the unimaginable. To learn more, download fundraising packets and register a team, visit jasonsfriends.org/bowl or call 307-235-3421.
Life After Cancer
Today, Dorothy looks like any other 3-year-old. She’s sweet, affectionate, and fiercely thoughtful — always making sure her sisters are included. She loves ballet, dressing up, and playing with makeup.
“She’s tiny but mighty,” her mom Payton says with a smile. And she means it. Dorthy is a cancer survivor.
Dorothy faced a battle before she was old enough to remember it, and while Payton is grateful, those months won’t be Dorothy’s memories to carry. Payton is determined that one thing will never be forgotten: Dorothy’s strength.
“If one day when she’s older she questions if she’s strong enough to do something, I want her to know she’s already done such incredible things and overcome so much,” Payton says. “There’s nothing in this world that she can’t handle.”
Surrounded by love and strengthened by the support that carried her family through, Dorothy’s story is no longer defined by cancer — but by resilience, love and a future full of possibility.
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