Liana Clayton is watching her mother fight to survive cancer first-hand.
She wanted to help her mother, Che Clayton, who's received rounds of painful treatment for breast cancer, but ended up helping many more people. Liana sells her colorful, handmade bracelets to raise awareness and give back to the doctors who helped her family cope with the disease.
"They ask how money much is it and I just go, it's just a donation, you can give me whatever you want," said Liana, 10.
Liana's business, Liana's Looms of Love, has earned over $2,000 so far, all of which has gone back to the treatment center where Liana, Che and the rest of the Claytons have have received therapy and support.
Clayton is now undergoing more than 35 rounds of radiation. She has been through multiple surgeries and chemotherapy, and continues to tackle an aggressive form of the disease.
"I have enjoyed my life, very much so, and so for me it's a fight to get it back," said Clayton, 43.
Though her family stays at home in Murrieta, Liana's colorful masterpieces guide her along the way.
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Liana said she started the business because she knew how hard breast cancer was on her mother.
"I don't think it feels very good," she said of her mother's disease.
Liana's Looms of Love is a family affair, involving the Claytons and their new family, gained at the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology, part of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The Simms/Mann Center offers physical and psychological therapy to cancer patients and the people close to them, to empower them as they try to manage cancer and get well.
"What Liana has done is taken that empowerment sort of place," said Dr. Anne Coscarelli, director of the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center.
Coscarelli said providing free therapeutic services for a patient and one family member costs about $1,000 a year, so Liana's donations have more than covered what she and her mother have received.
