MAGNOLIA, Del. (AP) - A 9-year-old Magnolia girl stricken with cancer appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Feb. 20, according to the Love 4 Layla Facebook page dedicated to her cancer fight.
A preview of the segment posted online shows Layla Mosley and several other children with cancer surprised by an appearance by rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Mosley, who is fighting an extremely rare form of bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma, appeared on the program in coordination with Fighting All Monsters, a nonprofit group supporting children facing life-threatening illnesses.
The group had been leading an online campaign for Combs to dance with their children. The kids even made a dance video to Combs’ “Bad Boy for Life” to entice the entertainer to join them.
In the “Ellen” preview clip, Combs surprises the children and Mosely tells DeGeneres about how her California trip has been.
“So far it’s been great. I’m just so excited to be here to see you because I watch your show all the time. I love your ’Game of Games’ show and I just love everything about you,” she tells a smiling DeGeneres, eliciting applause and “aws” from the audience.
With eight children seated in front of her, DeGeneres responds with a deadpan joke: “Look, I hate to pick favorites, but she is mine.”
When Combs finally appears after faking out the audience with a taped video apologizing for not attending, Mosley leaps off the couch and is the first child to run across the stage and jump in his arms.
Her segment was apparently filmed on Feb. 19 with Love 4 Layla posting, “She had the most incredible day!! Lots more pictures to come!! Layla is having the best time ever out in Hollywood!”
Mosley’s current cancer battle isn’t her first.
In 2016, she was first diagnosed with metastatic Ewing’s Sarcoma at the age of 5, which effects only about 200 children and young adults in the United States annually.
She underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the Stage 4 cancer, completing a 16-month fight.
Back then, the granddaughter of Magnolia-based horse trainer Joe Hundertpfund Jr. could be found at horse races selling lemonade to help raise money for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and childhood cancer research.
But after two years, she relapsed in May and has been fighting ever since with help from her friends and family, who have set up a GoFundMe page and have held fundraisers and raffles for the little girl.
The familiar chemotherapy treatments have returned for Mosley. Family posted on Facebook that her chemotherapy will end in May as long as her progress continues.
At the end of Mosley’s “Ellen” segment, the talk show host announced a $25,000 donation to Fighting All Monsters, thanks to show sponsor Shutterfly.
And then it was time for what everyone was waiting for. Combs walked over to the stage with the children and danced.
When Combs saw Mosley’s dance moves for the first time, he dropped to one knee so they could be eye-to-eye as he sang the song’s chorus, “We can’t be stopped now.”
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