Daughter Of LA Co. Sheriff's Deputy Battling Life-Threatening Disease

MONTEREY PARK (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has banded together to help a deputy's 7-year-old daughter who is battling a rare and deadly disease.

Deputy Richard Zorich's daughter, Kaylee, underwent emergency brain surgery in May.

Doctors removed part of Kaylee's brain when tests showed she had a life-threatening condition in her cerebellum.

"They said that in my head, it looked like a bomb exploded," said Kaylee. "It's really hard for me. They took off half my cerebellum."

"The shock of everything hasn't caught up with you yet, you're still trying to process all this…like what went wrong? What's happening? Why is her brain doing what it's doing?" said Richard.

For Richard, Kaylee's battle is one in a long list of personal tragedy.

In 2004, his two other children died within six weeks of one another. Both suffered from a rare hereditary disease.

"Sean, our son, was 12, and Lindsey was nine years old. From there, the house was pretty quiet, so we thought we would have another child," said Richard.

One loss after another has hit the Zorich family hard, both emotionally and financially. They have medical bills running more than $200,000.

So far, the sheriff's department has raised about $22,000 to help the family.

"We want her to live. We want her to go on and have a long life," said Sheriff Lee Baca.

To donate to the Zorich family, visit Cops 4 Causes.