DEFOREST, Wis. — A 6-year-old is defying the odds after surviving liver cancer and a liver transplant.

Lucy Sughroue was diagnosed with a rare liver disease known as progressive familial intrahepatic cholestaist, or PFIC 2.

"We noticed that the majority of her body was a little discolored,” her mom, Emily Sughroue, said. “As her mom and a nurse, I struggled with the questions of how can this be happening?”

One of the major side effects of the disease was constant itchy skin.

“I couldn't even fall asleep,” Lucy Sughroue said. “I would play with my toys at the middle of the night.  And then I would always come into my mommy and daddy's room.”

Lucy Sughroue’s parents tried everything to make it better. Emily Sughroue said it was hard not being able to take the pain and discomfort away from her daughter.

Then, the situation got worse before it got better, when Lucy Sughroue developed liver cancer last year. Doctors at UW Health said even with cancer treatment, she would need a liver transplant to survive.

“It was heavy,” Emily Sughroue said. “It was scary. It’s a lot to digest and I think some of it was denial.”

Within a month, they found a liver donor match. Lucy Sughroue was nervous going into surgery and remembered talking to her doctors about some of her hobbies as she was wheeled into the operating room.

“I probably felt a little scared, but probably not that scared, because I was talking about my favorite stuff,” she said.

The recovery wasn’t easy. But now, a year since the life-saving transplant, you’d never know Lucy Sughroue was as sick as she was.

“I think now, seeing how she is now, just so full of life and energy, I think she feels a lot better because it shows in her energy and her personality,” Emily Sughroue said.

At just 6-years-old, Lucy Sughroue has been through so much, but possesses a wisdom beyond her years.

She shared this advice with others on what got her through it: “Just be brave, don’t worry about what will happen. Just think about the good stuff.”