'Be thankful': 12-year-old shows strength, courage during grueling cancer journey

By Raakhee Mirchandani for Today Show Parents

Briana Lopez doesn’t know what her favorite TV show is, but she knows how to spell petechiae. That’s what happens when you’re diagnosed with cancer at just 11-years-old.

And it was the petechiae — little red spots caused by broken blood vessels and lack of platelets — along with a few weeks of exhaustion and bruising that sent Bri to the doctor earlier this year. Those days are a blur for the Lopez-Contreras family.

“I had really been complaining about being tired — but I’m very dramatic — so it took [my parents] a couple of days to see that something was actually wrong,” Bri said.

After Bri was hit by a soccer ball and sustained a massive lesion, her mom took her to the doctor for some bloodwork. They expected to hear back after a few days, but the phone rang at 3:30 a.m. that night.