For too many parents each year, the nightmare of hearing the words “your child has cancer” becomes a reality. How to cope, let alone explain the gravity of a terminal illness to a kid, is a pivotal question that comes without a guidebook. Should you cash in your savings and create some lasting memories? Or do you lace up your gloves and hunker down for an impossible fight?
One Texas family received the worst news: their little girl had a deadly illness, and the road to recovery was long and bleak. Despite statistics and scientific certainties, her family maintained unshakeable hope, and the results left doctors scrambling to uncover an explanation.
Eleven-year-old Roxli Doss was an average kid. She attended church regularly, as the Doss family were active members. Outside school hours, she was happiest hanging out at the stables and learning to ride horses.
GoFundMe
Nearing the end of her school year, Roxli started feeling a little off. At first, she and her family chalked it up to a bad headache and brushed it aside. Over the next few days, though, her pain wasn’t relenting, and Roxli couldn’t ignore it.
Roxli Doss
Doing as sick kids do, she complained to her mom. Gena and Scott Doss went ahead and gave their daughter some children’s pain reliever. Headaches happen, after all, and they hoped this would do the trick.
Heavy
Days turned to weeks, and Roxli’s headaches grew stronger and more frequent. Her parents, concerned that their daughter was too young to experience incessant migraines, decided it was time to have their family physician weigh in.
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The doctor ran tests as a precaution to see if there was any visible explanation for Roxli’s reoccurring headaches. Examining the lab findings, the doctor discovered an immediate root cause of the pain.
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Gathered in the doctor’s office, Gena and Scott were shattered by the news she delivered. Roxli’s results confirmed that she had an extremely rare kind of tumor called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG.
Gena Layne Doss / Facebook
A childhood cancer diagnosis is a very particular kind of devastation, and the Doss family received the worst of the sort. The location of her tumor, at the base of her brain and top of her spine, made it impossible to remove.
Research Gate
Gena and Scott listened as the doctor explained how the disease would begin to effect Roxli’s body: “decreased ability to swallow, vision loss, decreased ability to talk, eventual difficulty breathing.” Doctor Virginia Harrod at Dell Children’s Medical Center words stung in their ears.
Alpha News
With no known cure, the best Doctor Harrod could offer for medical advice was aggressively treating Roxli with radiation. No, her cancer wouldn’t be cured, but at least it would buy her more time than what a typical DIPG diagnosis offers.
UPMC
Before they could accept this bleak sentence, they needed to get another opinion. DIPG was incredibly rare, so there was a chance of misdiagnosis. The moment they left the hospital, they reached out to their church community for prayers.
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Hopping on planes, the Doss family visited all the best children’s cancer centers in the country: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, University of Texas MD Anderson in Houston, and Texas Children’s Hospital in Austin.
Gena Layne Doss / Facebook
Across the board, oncology specialists told them the same thing: Roxli’s tumor was, in fact, DIPG. They listed the many bodily functions that would begin to shut down as cancer progressed. The general consensus was a rapid decline in breathing, heartbeat, swallowing, balance, and sight.
The Times Herald
Normally, patients facing a DIPG diagnosis live an average of 9 months after their initial diagnosis, but Roxli’s family refused to resign themselves to a deadline. Gena and Scott put their game faces on, determined not to give up hope that their daughter would be the exception to the rule.
USA Today
Praying for a miracle, the family became a fixture at the Dell Children’s Medical Center. Most children with a DIPG diagnosis fall between ages 5-9, so 11-year-old Roxli was even more of a medical anomaly.
US Health News
Six days a week for six weeks, Roxli toughed it out in a hospital bed. When her arms weren’t full of tubes, she was undergoing radiation to shrink the tumor below her brain. Along with treatment came the toll of nausea, fever, and constant fatigue.
Life Daily
Even in the midst of painful treatments, Roxli was in good spirits. The Doss family maintained extreme confidence in their faith, and their church community rallied to support them. A GoFundMe page was set up to help fund the unexpected costs of her immediate treatments.
Gena Layne Doss / Facebook
After completing rigorous radiation treatments, Roxli and her parents stepped back into the hospital, this time to see if her tumor had shrunken as they hoped. Gena and Scott watched their daughter lay down for yet another MRI, they wondered how their lives had changed so much in a few months time.
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Armed with the knowledge that 70% of patients see effective shrinkage in tumor size from radiation, Dr. Howard examined the results. “When I first saw Roxli’s MRI scan, it was actually unbelievable.”
Cincinnati Childrens Hopsital
Roxli’s scans seemed impossible. Expecting to see a tumor reduced in size, Doctor Howard was astonished that the image of a child’s brain was completely free of any signs of a tumor. It had utterly vanished.
Scott Doss / Facebook
The odds were so unlikely, Roxli made medical history. She’s the first DIPG patient to have their tumor fully removed by radiation therapy. In the eyes of the Doss Family, it’s simply an example of a miracle.
Gena Layne Doss / Facebook
“Every day we still say it. It’s kind of our family thing that God healed Roxli,” Gena said. Looking at statistics of her prognosis didn’t falter the Doss’ strength of faith for a second. They kept their prayers and hope alive, and in the end, Roxli defied the odds.
Gena Layne Doss / Facebook
Still, the medical community was interested in how a result this positive came out of one of the worst childhood cancers. Dr. Hadjipanayis, director of neurosurgical oncology at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, said the rapid elimination of tumor was unheard of, as was zero traces of its existence on an MRI.
Mount Sinai
Outlining an explanation for Roxli’s case, Dr. Hadjipanayis noted the possibility of the DIPG diagnosis as inaccurate. Granted, five of the top oncology centers in the country determined her cancer was the aggressive form of tumor, despite being unable to perform a biopsy.
MSKCC
Whether a miracle of science or faith, we can’t be sure. For the near future, Roxli must continue getting scans and tests from her medical team periodically to ensure the cancer cells won’t return.
Neon Nettle
To stop the regrowth in its track, Roxli’s receiving immunotherapy, a newer cancer treatment that involves redirecting your own existing cells to fight the disease. So far, the little trooper is back on her feet with her head held high.
Gena Layne Davis / Facebook
Scott’s smile could be heard in his words, “We didn’t know how long she would be healthy and look at her, she’s just doing awesome.” It goes to show that maintaining hope in the face of the worst diagnosis has value. 
Gena Layne Doss / Facebook