PHOTOS: Young friends battling cancer together

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The mothers of two little girls with cancer are grateful for the friendship they've forged while fighting the disease.

Ava Garcia, 4, was diagnosed last August with cancer of the kidneys. Right next door to her at Texas Children's Hospital was three-year-old Penny Smith. Doctors told her family she had a skeletal muscle cancer in May 2014. The two girls became fast friends. They recovered from surgery together and then saw each other every week during their chemotherapy treatments.