Girl Battling Cancer for Third Time to Judge #RocTheStache Mustache Contest

Kaylee Rios, 6, will choose the top 10 mustaches.

ByABC News
October 29, 2015, 9:43 AM
Kaylee Rios, 6, of South Mills, N.C., is facing her third battle with Neuroblastoma. Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit that builds hope for kids fighting cancer, has launched The Kaylee Rios Project to collect mustache designs to be featured on a t-shirt.
Kaylee Rios, 6, of South Mills, N.C., is facing her third battle with Neuroblastoma. Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit that builds hope for kids fighting cancer, has launched The Kaylee Rios Project to collect mustache designs to be featured on a t-shirt.
Roc Solid Foundation

— -- A 6-year-old is taking her mind off her third battle with cancer by judging the silliest mustaches entered into the #RocTheStache contest, which was created by a non-profit organization in her honor.

"Kaylee just thinks mustaches are hilarious," mom Darlene Rios of South Mills, North Carolina told ABC News today. "She just thinks they are silly and they're fun, so anytime she sees one she giggles.

"She is not my girly-girl," she added. "She's always playing pranks on the doctors and nurses. She loves it."

PHOTO: Andrew Jebson, from Chesapeake, Va., is currently fighting Leukemia. He entered his mustache design to the #RocTheStache contest.
Andrew Jebson, from Chesapeake, Va., is currently fighting Leukemia. He entered his mustache design to the #RocTheStache contest.

Rios said it was March 1, 2011 when her daughter Kaylee was diagnosed with stage 4, high-risk neuroblastoma -- a cancer that was found in the then two-year-old's stomach.

"We were in disbelief first of all," Rios said. "We already have one child in the family [my nephew] who has neuroblastoma. We were of course very sad and very upset because we knew first-hand what Kaylee was going to face since we just saw my nephew go through that. It just broke our hearts."

PHOTO: Ashley Diette from Chesapeake, Va. and her son Ethan. She entered a mustache design to the #RocTheStache contest.
Ashley Diette from Chesapeake, Va. and her son Ethan. She entered a mustache design to the #RocTheStache contest.

After 18 months of treatment, including 12 rounds of chemo, Rios said Kaylee's cancer returned in August 2011 and again in April 2014.

In total, Kaylee has been through 34 rounds of chemotherapy and is currently being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

In an effort to keep her mind off her medical troubles, The Roc Foundation, an organization that provides fun opportunities for kids with cancer, created an open competition in Kaylee's honor to find the silliest mustache in existence.

PHOTO: Amy Stanley and her daughter, Eva, from Chesapeake, Va. Stanley submitted her mustache design to the #RocTheStache contest.
Amy Stanley and her daughter, Eva, from Chesapeake, Va. Stanley submitted her mustache design to the #RocTheStache contest.

"We built a swing set for Kaylee a year-and-a-half ago and she just kept talking about mustaches," Roc Solid Foundation's founder Eric Newman told ABC News. "We heard about her relapsing and what we do its try to being smiles to kids with cancer and I went to the hospital and asked her if she'd like to help me find the worlds coolest mustache. She smiled and said 'Yes.'

"Our goal is we want 10,000 mustaches in and 10,000 smiles [from Kaylee]."

"It'll keep her distracted while she's at Sloan Kettering," Rios said. "Looking at these mustache entries -- they''ll make her laugh and she doesn’t have to think about whats she's going through right now. It just warms our hearts that our community wants to do something fun for Kaylee."

PHOTO: Kaylee Rios, center, is facing her third battle with Neuroblastoma. Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit that builds hope for kids fighting cancer, has launched The Kaylee Rios Project to collect mustache designs to be featured on a t-shirt.
Kaylee Rios, center, is facing her third battle with Neuroblastoma. Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit that builds hope for kids fighting cancer, has launched The Kaylee Rios Project to collect mustache designs to be featured on a t-shirt.

To submit a funny mustache to Kaylee, post your photo to the Roc Solid Foundation's Facebook page using the hashtag #RocTheStache. Entries are due by Nov. 4 and the winner will have their mustache printed on t-shirts that will be sold to the public.

All of the proceeds will go directly to the Rios family.

Newman said he hopes Kaylee can announce the silliest mustache to the winner in person.