Doug Robinson: Draper teen fights off cancer from the brink

But she made it. The third round floored her but she got back on her feet, or at least was able to sit up with help. She went home for a week to recover and gather herself for another round. Later, nurses would tell her they had thought she wasn't going to make it.

And then at the end of those three weeks it was time to start the fourth round of chemo. She didn't have the strength for it, but what choice did doctors have? If they postponed another treatment the cancer could grow again. They gave her a week to recover and then started the fourth round. In the end, she survived it all. She gets a clean bill of health if she remains cancer free the next two years. Meanwhile, she is getting on with her life.

"It made me more grateful for little things," she says. "My family is really important to me. I'm not as caught up in the day-to-day worldly stuff."

On Monday, Tony Amato, the new University of Arizona soccer coach, visited Lexe at her home. This summer she will happily resume the athletic career she was enjoying before she was so rudely interrupted by cancer.

email: drob@desnews.com