This is a story about a girl named Brooke Coots. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet her or even talk to her, but
I hope to. Despite not knowing her personally, this girl’s story has inspired me with her show of courage and perseverance.
About a month ago, my mom found out about Brooke’s story from her good friend. Brooke is 17-years-old and lives in Kentucky with her parents, grandparents, older brother and two younger sisters. She has been battling a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma for several years. Recently, her cancer took a turn for the worse giving her only a few more months to live. Her last wish was to come down to Florida so she could go to the beach with her family and feel the sand.
This was where my mom and my family’s part of the story began. All of us were touched by this girl’s story of wanting to visit our home state, especially with our personal experiences with cancer through my mom, my grandpa and my little cousin.
My mom, my sister and I immediately started getting to work. We tried to talk to everyone we could, spreading word to any of our friends who would listen. If someone could get us a hotel room, a van, a few tickets to something, we would be grateful. The only thing that mattered was setting up a way to get this brave girl down to Florida.
Very soon, we had everything set up for when they family might want to come down. We had sponsors. We had a place for them to stay. We even found a way for her to meet Winter the dolphin at the Clearwater Aquarium. We were shocked by how fast things seemed to be coming together and were really hoping that we could make Brooke’s wish come true.
Then, things started taking a turn for the worse. The tumor is growing rapidly, putting Brooke in a lot of pain. Her parents aren’t even sure if they’ll be able to come down at all. Hoping to lift her spirits, the team that has been working together to bring the family down have sent her a “beach in a box” filled with sand, shells, seawater, a stuffed turtle and even a little light up palm tree. They also arranged to have a local production group in her area set her up with 50” TV and blue-ray player to watch National Geographic’s “Oceans”.
Currently, Brooke is still in a lot of pain, but is being moved to a hospice that will be closer to her home and will make things easier on the rest of her family since its closer to her home in Richmond. The hospital that she was staying at before was about 40 minutes from her family.
Right now, all we can do is hope for Brooke and share her story with others so she may inspire them as well.
If you want to find any other ways to help Brooke or to just keep up-to-date with her story, go to
https://www.facebook.com/