Little Girl With A Big Heart

 My daughter had complained about her "weird" feet since she was a child. She said they were shaped funny. I figured it was because she just did not appreciate her feet. They looked fine to me.

When she was a pre-teen she ended up with plantar warts. The foot specialist I took her to see treated them over a period of time and she was fine.

But her feet became a problem over time. She worked at a job that required her to be on her feet all day. She visited the foot specialist often.

They finally decided it would be best to remove the bunionettes. He recommended doing one foot at a time. She had the worst one taken care of then put off doing the other foot.

The foot specialist retired. My daughter ignored the remaining bunionette for years.

In the meantime she had two children. Her doctor and the doctor who treated the children was a nice young man. He was the father of twin girls who were the same age as my granddaughter.

He saw to it that my daughter had the final foot taken care of.

Then my daughter needed to have her tonsils removed. It would be an outpatient surgery. As fate would have it one of her doctor's daughters was scheduled to have her tonsils removed the same day.

My daughter was in a little area that was sectioned off for a patient awaiting surgery. She had been given a mild sedative to relax her. She waited. She waited some more. She waited longer. The sedative began to wear off.

She and her children's father heard the sirens of an ambulance. There was a lot of commotion inside the clinic.After a very long wait they came and restarted the procedure for my daughter and she had her tonsils removed.

Several days later my daughter had to see her doctor to see that she was healing properly. Another doctor was filling in for him.

After some detective work my daughter found out that all the hubbub the day she had her tonsils removed was because of her doctor's daughter. When they went to remove her tonsils they discovered something else which turned out to be throat cancer.

That poor little girl had a really hard time. Eventually her father took time from his ob to take care of her and her twin sister. He shaved his head to match hers when her hair fell out from the chemotherapy.

Every year there is a cancer walk which raises money for cancer treatment and research. It is held at a high school track field. People ask for sponsors to donate money for them walking.

Many of the people who walked were pat of a team. The doctor's little girl had a team of her own. Her sister and classmates walked. There was another team of people who worked at the doctor's office. There was another team of his patients and their families. It was glorious and inspirational to see.

After a long battle the doctor's daughter died. But she had been the driving force behind a lot of money raised to fight cancer to benefit others.

The walk became an annual event. A team named after the doctor's daughter still participates.