12 young girls with cancer have participated in a beauty pageant in Mexico City. Organizers say this pageant is the first of its kind in the world, with an aim of raising the young girls' self-esteem and confidence to survive. CGTN'S Alasdair Baverstock reports.

Melanie Ruiz, just 11-years-old, has been battling Leukemia since the age of three. She says she hates needles, endured months of long hospital stays, aggressive chemotherapy and isolation from her family. But for the past few weeks, she's had a distraction from all that. She's been preparing to compete in a beauty pageant.

Along with 11 other girls, all of them also battling childhood cancer, she's taking to the stage in front of a star-studded Mexico City theatre audience.

ALASDAIR BAVERSTOCK MEXICO CITY "Organizers say this cancer patient beauty pageant is the first of its kind in the world and is held primarily to boost these young girls' self-esteem, helping them and their families focus on positivity in the face of grave illness. But it brings awareness too, about childhood cancer and raises important funds to fight it."

The contestants, many of them terminal, tell their stories on stage. Melanie doesn't speak much, but her family does the talking for her.

JESSICA RUIZ MELANIE'S SISTER "We've been through very difficult times, because our father left us, and I had to take the responsibility, because I wanted to save my sister's life."

The event was founded by Doctor Jesus Galeana, a pediatric oncologist who says mental health is vital when combatting cancer.

DR. JESUS GALEANA, PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGIST EVENT FOUNDER "This event is about saving lives, raising awareness and making sure the girls are happy and feel accepted by society. They often feel rejected and dehumanized by society, and the majority of our patients, be they children or adults, don't die as a result of the illness, they die as a result of depression caused by an indifferent society."

For Melanie, the experience has been a joyful one, accompanied by her mother every step of the way.

ALICIA DURAN MELANIE'S MOTHER "My daughter needed this to raise her own self-esteem, because this illness destroys it. And while the body changes with the treatment, they still see themselves as they were before, and this will help them to become motivated, and see just how beautiful they really are."

The pageant ends with the crowning of just one queen, but in a sense, all 12 contestants are winners, through an experience that has brought them a psychological boost, that just might make all the difference. Alasdair Baverstock, CGTN, Mexico City.