UPDATE: Community brings Christmas to girl battling cancer
Update:
Alexandra Roberson’s family says that she died peacefully at around 7:30 Friday morning (12/19/14).
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Original Story:
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. – Through unimaginable pain and hardship, 11-year-old Alexandra Roberson is always smiling.
“Alexandra loves crafts, being with her friends,” said Heather Oswald, Alexandra’s mother. “She loved everything. Big lover. Loves life.”
In August 2013, Alexandra’s family learned she had a tumor on her brain stem.
“She went through three bone marrow transplants, major radiation, chemo,” Oswald said. “They found out she has severe radiation damage to her spinal cord that has been irreversible.”
After months of treatment and no options left, Alexandra’s family decided it was time to leave the hospital in Denver and go home to Florissant.
Each day is uncertain. The family doesn’t know if Alexandra will make it to Christmas.
“She was very excited for Christmas. It’s her favorite holiday,” Oswald said. “She wanted a real tree so her daddy went out back and cut her down a real tree.”
Alexandra’s neighbors decided that if Alexandra can’t make it to Christmas, Christmas would come to her.
Friends, neighbors, firefighters and even people who never met her filled Alexandra’s front yard Wednesday night to sing carols.
With the windows and doors open and snow falling outside, Alexandra took in every note from her bed and even managed to sing along.
“As a parent, it’s just gotta be the toughest thing and it tears me up,” said Tom Hatton, a neighbor. “It’s nice to see a group of people that can come together and do something positive even in a time of tragedy because this is tragic. It’s tragic to lose a child.”
This Christmas, Alexandra’s family hopes other families will remember to hold their loved ones tight and be grateful for them.
“Alex is so much full of love and she wants everybody to know it makes her sad when people are sad about her,” Oswald said. “She doesn’t want them to be sad. She wants everybody to be happy, to live life and to have a Merry Christmas.”
