Iliana had been counting down the days to that afternoon with her mom for more than a week.
She was 10 years old, and it was her first outing since finishing chemotherapy. Elizabeth Bellard took her to a nail salon in Stafford County, Virginia, for a mother-daughter date. But the employees began repeatedly telling the girl she looked like a boy. Elizabeth explained that her hair was short and her nails were brittle because of her cancer treatment. It made no difference: one of the nail technicians kept making fun of her, and the others laughed along. “They called me a boy. I felt a little embarrassed”, the little girl said. She finished her manicure with her head resting on the table.
Iliana was diagnosed in 2017 with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a very aggressive cancer, and doctors didn’t know whether she would survive. Today, they call her the miracle girl. During treatment, she discovered that making slime helped ease her pain, and now she raises funds to deliver boxes of ingredients to other children with cancer. The salon fired one employee, suspended two others, and issued a public apology.
