Jut recently, I had coffee with a sweet friend and we were chatting about my awful day year and she mentioned that instead of thinking of the negatives, I should just concentrate on the good and positivity. I thought that was awesome advice and I decided that I would do something about it. Fast forward a few days and I saw my several Facebook posts about a little girl named Loxley that had recently been diagnosed with cancer. I wondered if it was the same little Loxley I had photographed years ago and indeed it was. I contacted her mom and I was thrilled that new portraits were just what her needed…and she literally realized this the night before I offered them. Loxley has started chemotherapy so I wanted to share some pictures of her and her parents. I loved catching up with Loxley and she even remembered me and said that one of the pictures I had taken of her was one of her favorites. Loxley is just the sweetest young girl with an amazing smile and a great attitude.
One thing I really wanted to mention is Loxley’s story. I find her story very enlighting as these parents listened to their child and they were very proactive in trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with her from the very beginning.
Here is a little bit about Loxley straight from her mom Danniell:
Loxley Slocumb is a fun loving, sweet 12-year-old girl who was extremely healthy. She is a creative and smart 7th grade student in the MERIT program at Thomas County Middle School. She is also a TCMS spirit cheerleader and competition cheerleader. She made the cheerleading squad at the end of the school year last year and practiced all summer long preparing for competitions this fall. Early on in the summer, she mentioned that her knee was hurting and since she was finally hitting a growth spurt we attributed it to “growing pains”. At her 12 year checkup right after school was out we mentioned it to Dr. Jones and he thought it could be growing pains or a strained muscle with her being more active. But he strongly advised us to keep an eye on it and follow up if it continued to hurt or we noticed any visual changes. Throughout the summer she would complain off and on with it hurting but not constantly. A few weeks before school began when she was practicing more hours during the day we started noticing some slight swelling. By Thursday before school started it looked oddly swollen. I decided to contact Thomasville Orthopedic and get an appointment with Dr. Walter because I have seen him before with my knee issues. We saw Dr. Walter and had X-rays done which revealed that there was something wrong with her lower femur on her left leg above the knee. Dr. Walter immediately referred us to a friend of his at Shands – Dr. Parker Gibbs an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in treating the type of cancer that he thought she had. We had an appointment at Shands with Dr Gibbs the very next day. Everything happened so fast-Tuesday was our appointment with Dr Walter, Wednesday we did all sorts of scans and tests needed to find out what Dr. Walter and Dr. Gibbs were 99.9% sure was wrong with her leg, Thursday morning she had a biopsy which confirmed the diagnosis, Friday her port was inserted and Saturday and Sunday her first chemo treatment was administered. Everything happened in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Had she not been more active during the summer with cheer we would possibly still not know of her tumor. Thankfully she was more active with cheer thus leading to her cancer being discovered early before it spread. What started out as an appointment for a possible strained muscle or ligament issue ended in a bone cancer diagnosis – Osteocarcoma.
If you are interested in helping Loxley, please read to the bottom of the post and you can see the fundraisers that have been started for this sweet family. I know that this family will really appreciate any support. But first, I have to share a few pictures of beautiful Loxley 🙂
How to Help:
1.You can donate to the family at Thomasville National Bank (and the bank has been amazing through this process) The great thing about donating to this account set up for Loxley is that all of the funds go to their family (unlike many of the fundraising sites where a portion goes to the site)
Loxley’s Love Account
3. T-Shirts: