Kyleigh Tokar has faced and overcome greater challenges than most people encounter during a lifetime—and she is just 16 years old. The Beaufort High School junior beat all odds at the beginning of her life, surviving a massive stroke while in utero and subsequently being born without brain activity, reflexes, vision, hearing or muscular ability.
Last June, Joe Tokar started writing a blog about his daughter Kyleigh. She loves the Lord and is amazing, wonderful, happy, vibrant and incredibly caring. She is an incredible young woman that has changed not only my life, but the lives of so many people she has come in contact with. Joe created the blog to document the latest challenge that Kyleigh is facing—a diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma a rare type of cancer that occurs in bones or in the soft tissue around bone , a cancer that most often afflicts teens and young adults.
The survival rate for localized cases of Ewing sarcoma is about 70 percent; if it spreads to other sites in the body, the survival rate drops to 30 percent. Last year, in May, while she was driving, Kyleigh was hit by another car, an event that her dad Joe believes was a gift from God to help the family discover her cancer. As a result of the accident, Kyleigh suffered a minor back injury so she visited a chiropractor. The chiropractor advised them to have a doctor see Kyleigh immediately.
The week before her treatment began, Kyleigh decided to have her long, flowing tresses cut into a short style so she could donate her hair to Locks of Love.
After a period of time off chemotherapy, on October 20, , Kyleigh had an operation to remove the tumor and all or part of three ribs, but through it all her spirit and determination never waivered.
