Lacey Holsworth

[theriverpilot 5,607]

I was very saddened to have seen this.  I thought it was a really touching story about Adreian Payne\MSU and the bond he formed with this little girl.  I thought it spoke volumes on his character, and a life cut way too short.

 

All apologies if this should've been posted elsewhere.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/lacey-holsworth--friend-of-msu-s-adreian-payne--has-died-122652140.html

[LIHoosier 26,357]

Agreed. This is the 1st time in a long while I've been as sad about someone's passing as I would be for someone I personally knew.

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

The impact she left in 8 years is more than most of us will leave. RIP Lacey.


Some of the pictures of them are hard to look at now. Thoughts and prayers to the family & those close to her.

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[OliviaPope40 6,543]

Payne is truly an ambassador for the MSU program teams could use more players like him.

[OliviaPope40 6,543]

[Basketball4iU 2,006]

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[coachmayhew 1,414]

This was/is such an emotional story, the first time I heard about it brought tears to my eyes. Lacey will live on in the hearts of many forever.


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[Hovadipo 56,463]

Man that text is difficult to read. I got a little emotional when I read the news this morning.


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[All_Hoosiers 873]

Awful, awful, awful. I knew she was sick, but I was unaware she was close to death. Extremely saddened by this news.

[CampHoosier 3,697]

Good to know that in the era of "me me me" Adreian was all about someone else. I hope he knows what he did for that girl and carries that with him for the rest of his life. You can teach basketball, you can't teach being a solid human being. Class act. 

[BlueDevil 8,693]

[quote name="All_Hoosiers" post="58806" timestamp="1397098744"]Awful, awful, awful. I knew she was sick, but I was unaware she was close to death. Extremely saddened by this news.[/quote]

Same here I think the media portrayed her as getting better. I think it was a shock to everyone.

[Dalton26 16,892]

It's always so sad when someone dies but even more so when it's a small child. Makes you realize how small your problems really are. Rest in peace young lady.


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[OliviaPope40 6,543]

I'm wearing my pink t-shirt in her honor tomorrow I know pink is for breast cancer but honestly her story has inspired me.

[OliviaPope40 6,543]

EAST LANSING — A month after a cancerous tumor wrapped around her then-6-year-old spine, Lacey Holsworth found Adreian Payne.

Payne and other members of the Michigan State men’s basketball team were visiting the St. Johns girl in Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital in January of 2012, and she was drawn to him in particular — because of his smile, she would say later.

He would later call their relationship a “gift from God,” and the nation would eventually come to know it — along with her smile. Lacey passed away late Tuesday at the age of 8, and Payne and many others mourned her today.

“I know she’s smiling and dancing in heaven right now,” Payne said in a statement through MSU. “My princess is now an angel.”

■ Photos: Lacey Holsworth shared love for MSU, Adreian Payne on Instagram

■ Reaction: MSU athletes, fans, analysts mourn loss of Lacey

Lacey is survived by her parents, Matt and Heather, and brothers Will, Mitchell and Luke. The family announced her passing early today with the following post on Instagram: “Princess Lacey has achieved the ultimate victory. She now dances among angels.... The world is a better place because you were in it. Our hearts are broken. We love you Doll. Dance all night... Mommy and Daddy, Will, Mitchell and Luke #LoveLikeLacey”

A memorial service for Lacey is tentatively planned for April 17 at Breslin Center, though details were still being worked out as of this afternoon, MSU spokesman Matt Larson said.

The grace Lacey displayed throughout her nationally publicized battle with cancer came through in this text message from Matt Holsworth on Wednesday: “Continue her legacy! Love unconditionally.”

The tragedy of her passing came through in the trembling voice of ESPN’s Dick Vitale, who vowed between sobs to raise $250,000 in her name.

“I can’t believe it,” said Vitale, the former U-D and Detroit Pistons coach. “This rips my heart out, man. … I’m gonna get that money if I have to give it myself.”

The impact ever-smiling Lacey had on people in her brief time came through in a daylong stream of tweets and tributes. The most heartfelt came from inside the MSU men’s basketball family, which welcomed her as forward Adreian Payne became an honorary Holsworth in the past couple years.

■ Videos: The story of Lacey, Adreian in their words

■ Related: ESPN analyst Jay Bilas moved by story of Lacey Holsworth, Michigan State’s Adreian Payne

“I mean, a week and a half ago, she’s with the team, in New York, sitting in the film room, going through everything she was going through,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said of Lacey. “All that pain — and she’s got a smile from ear to ear.”

Matt Holsworth texted today that Lacey passed away “in our arms at home peacefully. She is happy and pain-free now.”

After MSU students painted the rock tonight, several hundred of them joined Izzo and his family, Payne and other members of the team in signing it. Izzo addressed the crowd, saying: “This, my friends, is awesome. … I’m so proud of every single person standing here.”

He told the crowd that the past season will be remembered most for the way the team rallied around Lacey. He broke down for a moment as he told of how Lacey told her parents she was tired and “wanted to go home” after their trip to Texas with Payne last week. And he said she was smiling when she passed away.

“I’m not sure I’d be that tough,” Izzo said. “I’m not sure my players would. I’m not sure you would.”

Payne also spoke to the crowd, saying: “You don’t know how much this means to me and her family.”

Words of support came from all corners of the Big Ten and beyond. The MSU baseball team had a moment of silence before its home game today, the MSU softball team had “Play 4 Lacey” wristbands and athletic director Mark Hollis said in a statement that Lacey “captured the hearts of many people throughout our state and nation.”

College athletes and coaches helped Lacey “trend” today on Twitter. Members of the Golden State Warriors, the team of former Spartan Draymond Green, tweeted condolences. A website set up recently by Okemos High grad Jeff Martin to help the family with medical costs, blew past its goal of $75,000 today.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, who is followed on Twitter by nearly 700,000 people and recently made Lacey the first person he follows, tweeted: “RIP Lacey Holsworth. A beautiful soul, whose strength and courage touched and inspired us all. Heartbreaking.”

Payne’s statement included: “Words can’t express how much I already miss Lacey. She is my sister, and will always be a part of my life. She taught me how to fight through everything with a smile on my face even when things were going wrong. I’m a better man because of her.”

Payne and Lacey had a last hurrah in Texas last week — her cheering him during a college dunk contest and helping him judge a high school dunk contest — and their relationship was a case of mutual, cherished support.

They first met about five months after Payne’s grandmother Mary Lewis, who raised him, passed away in Jefferson Township, Ohio. It was about eight years after his mother, Gloria Lewis, died in his arms in the wake of an asthma attack.

“And now this,” Izzo said today.

Izzo and Payne knew time was short earlier in the week, and Izzo said they spoke this morning.

“Even though he knew this was inevitable, it’s hard,” Izzo said of Payne. “But he took it with the class and dignity that she taught him. I told him, ‘Not everybody gets to touch somebody’s life like you have. And sometimes other people impact your life, too.’”

That relationship was featured this spring on “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America,” after Payne carried Lacey onto the Breslin floor during his senior night ceremony, then brought her with him up the ladder to snip the nets and celebrate a Big Ten tournament championship win over Michigan on March 16 in Indianapolis.

Through it all, despite ongoing radiation treatments and growing tumors in various parts of her body - the disease returned in November after a few hopeful months away - Lacey smiled. She was a dancer who reveled in her moments of normalcy, tweeting about them with the hashtag: #kissitcancer.

“I refuse to be a victim,” she tweeted on Feb. 13. “No matter what I’ve been through, I’m still here. I have a history of victory.”

“It’s amazing, the things she understands about life, about people,” Matt Holsworth said at the time of Lacey’s personality and tweets. “She’s an old soul.”

Payne once called his relationship with Lacey “a gift from God,” and Izzo said of her influence on him: “I’m supposed to be a guy who leads men, and now an 8-year-old has impacted my life like this.”

He heard Vitale’s tearful voice on the phone, too, after Vitale heard the news and called Matt Holsworth. Vitale invited the Holsworths, Payne and Izzo to Sarasota, Fla., last May to take part in his annual gala to raise money for cancer research.

Lacey was the star that night of an event that has raised $10.7 million in eight years. Vitale said he will start raising the $250,000 in Lacey’s name at dickvitaleonline.com after speaking with Matt Holsworth.

“I told him, ‘Matt, we can’t save Lacey but maybe we can save someone else,’” said Vitale, who spent part of last week’s Final Four festivities visiting cancer-stricken kids at Dallas Children’s Hospital.

“And we’re worried about basketball,” Vitale said. “Cancer sucks … this should not be happening to kids like Lacey — she had a smile that was worth a million dollars. I’ll never forget her.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20140409/SPORTS07/304090052/

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

Coach IZZO spoke at her Vigil tonight. Powerful stuff:
http://youtu.be/hc7RAjagU6c



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[OliviaPope40 6,543]

EAST LANSING, Mich. — "Love Like Lacey," read the sign outside Harrison Roadhouse, a well-known letter jumble that often tells the story of the day at Michigan State — whether it be a football win or a tuition increase.

On Thursday, it was 8-year-old Lacey Joy Elizabeth Holsworth of St. Johns, whose life was celebrated less than a mile from that sign, for an hour and 40 minutes in front of an estimated 2,500 people at the Breslin Center, nine days after cancer took it.

FTW: Izzo speaks at Lacey's vigil

Thursday's event had no known precedent and won't have a duplicate. It was unique, as was the story of Lacey and her courage and relationship with the Michigan State men's basketball team — a bona fide brother-sister closeness with senior forward Adreian Payne.

Those two hit the national TV circuit late in Michigan State's season, bringing the story of their 2-year-plus bond to millions. The outpouring was intense in the wake of Lacey's death, but Thursday was about celebrating the 8 years she did have.

It was about singing and dancing and bright colors and funny stories. At times, it was about as emotional and intimate as a college basketball arena could be.

And during the tear-jerking highlight of the evening, a recording of Heather Holsworth's tribute to her daughter, it was about learning what "Love Like Lacey" means.

"Without hesitation," Heather said, "and unconditionally."

TV crews from around the state were already lined up outside when the doors opened at 6 p.m. and people started streaming into Breslin. Some went to several hundred floor seats that were open behind four rows of family members — including parents Matt and Heather, brothers Will, Mitchell and Luke — and folks from Michigan State and Lansing's Sparrow Hospital.

On the screens above them played various videos of Lacey dancing to various songs — pop hits from Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars and Carly Rae Jepsen. Lacey moved and sang along to Stay Stay Stay and Just the Way You Are and Call Me Maybe.

And there was a video of her recital from last spring, a year after she was unable to walk while recovering from a tumor that wrapped around her abdomen. This year, she was going to dance to I Do Believe in Fairies from Peter Pan.

One of many photos honoring Lacey Holsworth at a memorial for the late 8-year-old at the Breslin Center at Michigan State.(Photo: Rod Sanford, Lansing State Journal)

 

The program started at 6:30 with a piano solo of Let it Go from the Disney movieFrozen, performed by Aunt Julie Konieczny, Matt's sister. Then Heather's aunt Cynthia Hennessey gave a prayer.

Emcee Jeff Perryman, a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, took over and started by telling how he stopped in to see Lacey last year after hearing her story. He became close with the family and she fell in love with his dog, Ike.

He said of Matt and Heather: "This is a pure celebration of their daughter, who brought so much light to so many of us."

Then it was time for Heather's taped tribute. She said her "heart is screaming" as she mourns her daughter, who she called "a tomboy with a tutu."

"There's not enough pages in a book to do her justice," Heather said, and she told of her daughter's determination to beat her brothers in a race when she was 5 years old.

"The crazy thing?" Heather said. "She did it all in a skirt. And that's what Lacey was. A mixture of grace and grit."

She told of Lacey cutting loose in the family car on the way home from games, after resisting the urge to dance in front of Michigan State players.

"The Spartan princess. Sweet, adorable Lacey," Heather said. "Rocking out to 2 Chainz."

Heather closed by telling Lacey: "You are whole and you are healed. You are dancing among angels in the most stunning of palaces. ... My heart is lost without you. It will never be the same, but that's OK because I'm still learning from you. ... We can't wait to see you again. Save a dance for me. Love, Mommy."

Michigan State junior guard Travis Trice told the story of the Spartans' loss to North Carolina in December, after which he left a grim locker room to see smiling Lacey — about a month after finding out her cancer had returned. His misery was gone instantly.

"That was one of her blessings," said Trice, who also read two Biblical verses.

The team gathered together under a basket next to the stage and Payne performed a "silent dunk" to honor her. A Michigan State-produced video included words from the team to Lacey and pictures of her with Magic Johnson, Mateen Cleaves, Steve Smith and others.

Then it was time for the closer, a 43-minute video put together by Matt and Heather. It had baby pictures and vacation shots and jokes and heart-wrenching footage of Lacey undergoing treatment for cancer and learning to walk again. And it ended with Heather interviewing Lacey and asking her what she would tell other kids with cancer.

"Just keep believing in God and keep praying," Lacey said, "and just try to stay strong."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2014/04/17/princess-laceys-life-celebrated-at-michigan-state/7812917/