AURORA, Colo. When 14-year-old Naia Vail walks the halls of Children's Hospital Colorado, she knows them from a very different time in her life. Naia was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive type of blood cancer, in D ecember 2024. She underwent four rounds of chemotherapy. The treatment came with the risk of oral mucositis, painful sores that can develop in the mouth and throat of patients undergoing cancer treatment."It can cause a lot of pain in our kiddos, and they're already going through so much," registered nurse Jen Lamb said.Naia experienced a small sore herself."When I got a baby one, it did hurt, and I couldn't even imagine what the big ones were like," Naia said.Her parents, Josh and Melissa Vail, learned about red-light therapy through an educational class offered by Children's Colorado to families beginning chemotherapy. The noninvasive treatment can help cells heal faster while decreasing inflammation and pain. The Vails decided to buy Naia her own red-light therapy device."We started doing red light for her and she wasn't getting the sores," Melissa Vail said.The family said Naia developed only two small sores during treatment. Melissa Vail said they used the red-light wand on the sores and saw them disappear quickly. "This is working, and we have to help other families get this as soon as possible," Melissa Vail recalled.Even while she was undergoing cancer treatment herself, Naia said she was aware that other children did not have the same access to red-light therapy."I was very aware when I was going through treatment that other kids weren't getting what I was getting and were experiencing a lot more pain than I was," she said.Naia and her parents began thinking about how their experience could help other families."We began to talk as a family how we could sort of turn this experience into lasting impact," Josh Vail said. "We wanted to find something that was tangible, measurable and impactful, and red-light therapy seemed like a natural fit."At Children's Hospital Colorado, Lamb was already working to build the hospital's red-light therapy program. Lamb researched the therapy and worked to implement it at Children's Colorado, offering patients another way to prevent or relieve painful mouth sores."Just sitting and watching them suffer and really not being able to offer them anything other than pain meds," Lamb said of patients experiencing oral mucositis. "There was nothing good to offer them."After learning about red-light therapy and reviewing research from other hospitals, Lamb said she saw an opportunity to change that."Something so simple, non-invasive," Lamb said. "We were actually able to help."The Vails connected with Lamb and learned about the work already underway at the hospital."We basically learned as much as we could from Nurse Jen, who walked us through step by step what they were doing and how they were trying to make it work," Melissa Vail said. "We were like 'what do you need?'"The family then rallied friends, relatives, neighbors and coworkers to raise money for the effort, helping Children's Colorado pay for technology, staffing and other needs associated with expanding the program.Josh Vail emphasized that the family's fundraising built upon the work already happening at the hospital. "Frankly, we just worked with the existing infrastructure and people," he said. "Without them being able to implement this and execute on it, it wouldn't be where it is today."Lamb said the family's support made a significant difference in how quickly the hospital could expand red-light therapy to outpatient care."With the donation from Josh and Melissa and all their counterparts that they got together, that really sped up the program and implementation time for our outpatient clinic by almost two years," Lamb said.The hospital went from receiving the donation to implementing the outpatient program within six months, according to Lamb. Lamb said the inpatient red-light therapy program has now provided nearly 5,000 treatments. She also credits the Vails with helping push the effort forward."Naia's family were the drivers of all this," Lamb said.Today, Naia is cancer-free. Her family's work, however, continues to benefit children undergoing cancer treatment at Children's Colorado. Naia said knowing that other children now have greater access to something that helped her is meaningful. "I wanted to help those kids while I was going through treatment, because I know I had it better than they did," Naia said. "Knowing that they can get past this as fast as I did, and we are actually helping them is really good."Denver7 recognized Naia and her family as Denver7 Everyday Heroes for their efforts to help expand access to red-light therapy for other children facing cancer. Naia hopes that access eventually extends much farther."I hope it becomes more of a worldwide thing, and everyone can be able to use it, especially the kids that really need it and adults who need it," she said.September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness of childhood cancer and the experiences of children and families facing a diagnosis.The Vail family's fundraising page remains active for people who want to support the continued red-light therapy effort at Children's Colorado. Melissa said additional funding can help support the staffing needed to keep the program going."If you're feeling inspired and you would like to help this program continue, they've got the equipment and they've got the proof of concept that it's working," Melissa said. "But... it always takes finances to keep it going and to staff it."Denver7 features a different Everyday Hero each week. To nominate a hero in your life, click here. ...read more read less