A candlelight vigil will be held Tuesday night in honor of Mulvane teen Taylor Heersche, who died of leukemia hours before she was to return to home after months in the hospital.
The vigil is set for 10:30 p.m. at Mulvane?s Main Street Park, at Fourth Avenue and Main Street, following the Mulvane-Rose Hill football game. Taylor, 15, was set to return to her Mulvane home Tuesday after doctors at Kansas City?s Children?s Mercy Hospital told her family she had only a few days to live.
The town, which rallied around Taylor at Thursday?s football matchup with Clearwater, decorated Main Street with ribbons and signs in orange ? the color of leukemia awareness ? to welcome her around 5 p.m.
But Taylor died shortly before 8 a.m., following her second battle with leukemia.
DeAnne Heersche said Tuesday her daughter ? a bubbly, funny, outgoing teen who loved music, theater and her dog, Kaiser ? had a knack for uniting a community.
?I?ll bet every parent says that their kid was special. But she was a real people person. There were no strangers,? she said of her daughter.
?That kind of kid leaves a huge whole not only in our family, but in the community. We?re all going to miss her horribly.?
Crisis counselors will be available to talk to students, faculty and staff throughout the week at Mulvane High School, district spokesman Tom Keil said.
Taylor, a sophomore at Mulvane High School, was diagnosed with the leukemia in May 2008. She was 10.DeAnne Heersche said Taylor told her, ?I can live with leukemia.?
?And I said, ?Well, you can live with leukemia, so can we,? DeAnne Heersche said. ?And she lived with leukemia. She was a fireball.?
On Dec. 29, 2011 ? after treatment, chemotherapy and eight cancer-free months ? doctors announced the disease was back. This time, DeAnne Heersche said, ?it was a genetic mutation that could not be cured by chemo.?
?This last three months at Children?s Mercy was one setback after another,? she said. Taylor got shingles. A fungus grew in her lungs. A virus attacked her bladder.
?She was fighting too many things. We just couldn?t get her healthy.?
At 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Taylor?s body started shutting down. By 8, ?she was in heaven,? DeAnne Heersche said.
Taylor is survived by her parents Dan and DeAnne Heersche; 13-year-old sister, Connor; grandmother Millie Hastings; grandfather George Heersche; and several members of her extended family.
Services are at 4 p.m. Sunday at Central Community Church, 6100 W. Maple in Wichita. Those attending are asked to wear a Taylor?s Gang T-shirt or another orange top with jeans.
She will be buried Monday in Mulvane?s Littleton Cemetery during a private ceremony.
Smith Mortuaries in Derby and Mulvane are handling arrangements.
The family is asking contributions be made to several funds in lieu of sending flowers: the Taylor Heersche Cancer Fund at Carson Bank locations in Mulvane, Derby and Wichita; the Mulvane High School Thespians Club, the Mulvane Lyons/Leo?s Club, the Mulvane United Methodist Church, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Wichita.
Article source: http://www.kansas.com/2012/10/30/2551304/vigil-set-tuesday-night-for-mulvane.html
Source: http://cancerkick.com/2012/10/30/vigil-set-tuesday-night-for-mulvane-teen-who-died-of-leukemia/
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