Kevin Jakahi - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Family, friends rush to support Spence's leukemia battle

It was before the Big Island Interscholastic Federation girls basketball season when Lexi Spence had been feeling sick for a few weeks, suffering from chest pains, fevers and a heaving stomach.

Then the worst news of young Lexi's life came on Sept. 17, the day she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia at Hilo Hospital, turning her life upside down.

"The doctor at Hilo Hospital flat out told me and my mom, 'It turns out you have leukemia.' My mouth dropped to the ground," she said in a phone interview from Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Ore., where she is undergoing treatment.

"I want to wake up like it's a bad dream," the 15-year-old Hilo High sophomore said. "But I still wake up in a hospital bed. It's not a dream. I want it to go away."

After her diagnosis, Lexi was flown via medevac to Kapiolani Medical Center on Oahu, where she underwent two rounds of chemotherapy to put the leukemia, a cancer of the blood, into remission.

Lexi, her mother Elaine, and sisters Angelina, 12, and Danielle, 9, flew to Portland on Nov. 21, four days before Thanksgiving, in hopes of finding a bone marrow match from the national registry.

Lexi is Caucasian and Filipino. Her two sisters were not a match, and her half-brother, Jordan, 18, was not a candidate, said Elaine, who called the ordeal a "big blow."

Lexi finished a third round of chemo on Tuesday. Her dad, Dan Spence, a plant manager for Hawaiian Springs water in Keaau, will join the family shortly. He has family in Portland.

"It's been tough on us," said Elaine, who is looking to enroll Angelina and Danielle into school in Portland. "We have stayed strong, so Lexi can stay strong. We have a lot of support around us. That's helping us.

"The hard thing is you can't run away from this. You have to deal with it. And by dealing with it, that makes you stronger."

Still, Elaine acknowledged that it is difficult for a parent to see their child suffer.

"The hardest part is seeing her sick," she said. "She would throw up and you can't do anything, except depend on the chemo. And it's just watching her and being helpless, watching her (white blood) counts get low, where she's prone to fevers and infections.

"We're really working on staying strong. Some days you lose ground for a minute, but you have to pick yourself back up and try to keep going. We just try to stay strong for her. She's been really good, really strong fighting through this. My husband is the backbone of the family. He loves his children and would do anything for them. That keeps me strong.

"But it's hard."


Teammates

Lexi is not alone in her battle against AML, a cancer that features abnormal rapid growth of white blood cells (the body's front-line defense that fights infections) in the bone marrow, and bothers the production of normal blood cells.

"She's bright, smart and well-liked," Hilo girls coach Ben Pana said. "When the team found out, we were heart-broken. We were looking forward to having her back on the junior varsity. She's not the most athletic player, but her personality livens up the place.

"The team talks about her a lot. The girls are always thinking and talking about her at practice."

The Vikings are holding two bone marrow drives, one on Saturday at the Hilo Holiday Classic at Hilo Civic from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and another on Sunday at Aunty Sally's Luau House from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

"The last time I talked to her was during our tourney (after Thanksgiving) and she was grateful for her teammates choosing the bone marrow drive as our community service project," Pana said. "She wished she could be home. Our focus is Lexi and to help any other kids on the island. Our project couldn't be better for the team. It could save someone's life and it's about helping people.

"After talking to her, it's more than her family supporting her. That's the greatest thing she needs going into this battle, knowing people are in her corner. I hope we get some people for the drive. That's our goal, to save a life."

Said Lexi: "A nice turnout would be cool. I need a match and having a lot of people come out would mean a lot to me."

Pana isn't the only one to notice Lexi's sunny, bright personality.

"My doctor at Kapiolani told me I had a really good attitude, that I'd wake up and be smiling," Lexi said. "When he would walk in, he said I had a great attitude. He even told me there's a camp for patients with cancer and because of my attitude I could help little kids."


Singing talent

Lexi played on the JV squad last season and enjoyed the experience. She even has a sense of humor about her talent level.

"I used to play when I was little and joined the team last year," she said. "I'm not that good. I was better when I was little."

Actually, her passion is singing.

"Whenever she sings, my stomach gets butterflies," Elaine said. "Her singing overwhelms me with happiness. Of course, any mom would say their daughter sounds beautiful. But I actually feel she has a beautiful voice and whenever I hear her sing I want to cry."

Lexi won the school's Brown Bags talent contest. She has also sung the national anthem at Rainbow Wahine volleyball matches and Hawaii men's basketball games.

"I'm shy but I always find myself talking to people," she said. "That's the weird thing. And singing in front of those crowds, that was cool. The adrenaline helps you go out and perform.

"I've always liked singing when I was little. I remember sitting in the car with my dad when I was 4 or 5 and Aaliyah was playing and I was singing along.

"My favorite singer is Alicia Keys. She's very successful and likes to help out with charity. She got an award from BET (Humanitarian Award in 2009) for being the way she is for helping people."

As for a profession, Lexi aspires to be a singer. If not, maybe a nurse.

"I'd like to be a professional singer," she said. "But seeing the nurses help kids, it's a fulfilling job. I would be happy being a nurse, too."

How to help

Two bone marrow drives have been set up to help Hilo High sophomore Lexi Spence, who has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. She played junior varsity basketball for the Vikings last year.

On Saturday, a bone marrow drive will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the championship game of the Holiday Prep Classic at Hilo Civic.

On Sunday, another bone marrow drive will be held during the Toys for Tots event from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Aunty Sally's Luau House.

"We're trying to help Alexis and anyone else on the Big Island who needs a bone marrow match," Vikings coach Ben Pana said.

Hilo athletic director Leroy Simms also noted that money usually targeted for visiting teams' gifts and all-star awards during the tournament will instead be donated to Spence in the school's names.

Pana said drive coordinators will "swab for a bone marrow match and have a registration drive to help Alexis and others who may be in a similar situation on the Big Island."

For more information, call Pana at 217-7938.

To visit Spence's website, go to bonemarrowforlexi.com.