BOISE -- On Saturday at Warm Springs Golf Course, dozens got together to golf and raise money for a young girl fighting cancer.
"It's pretty devastating," said Kalin King. "You want everything for your kid, and you want them to be healthy and then you hear she has cancer, and it's stage four. It's a lot to take in."
Kalin and Melissa King were crushed when they heard their 2-year-old daughter, Lilyan, had cancer.
"She has stage four neuroblastoma," said Melissa. "So she had a tumor on her left adrenal gland, which has now been removed."
A year of intense and sometimes painful treatments are on the horizon. But on Saturday, this family got some help from the 26th annual Friendship Scramble.
"Really, we're here to celebrate her and make it her special day," said Michael Russell, the director of the Friendship Foundation.
Every year, the Foundation raises thousands of dollars through their golf tournament, the Friendship Scramble, to help a young person battling a life-threatening illness. This year's recipient, Lilyan, has already had a lifetime's worth of battles in less than a year.
"It's for a great cause," said Weston Wheat with Quality Thermistor, the title sponsor of the tournament for a third year. "You just can't really say enough about the cause."
Organizers expect to raise about $21,000 for Lilyan and her family. That's along with gifts to help them cope with the next phase of treatment as they move down to Salt Lake City for the year.
"This will definitely help us sleep a little bit better, knowing that we will have a house to come back to," said Melissa. "We couldn't possibly thank these people enough for everything that they do, not only for us, but for other people in our situation. It's just amazing that there's people like this."
But if you ask these golfers, volunteers, and organizers, seeing this little girl happy and on her way to a much healthier future is all the thanks they need.
"That's why they're here, and that's why they come back year after year to play in this," said Russell.
The Kings say once their year of treatments in Salt Lake City is over, they will rush back home to Boise and the generous community that they say helped them through this tough time.
If you'd like to know more about the Friendship Scramble, or the Friendship Foundation, just click here.
