CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — Instead of playing on the softball fields, 13-year-old L.A. Ainger middle schooler Lexi Martincek is competing against her own body. She has stage four brain cancer, not cured even after massive surgery.
Her journey started on March 1 when the teen started having random headaches.
“She had been having headaches for a few days, pain with her eyes moving,” Lexi’s mom, Briana Murphy said. “She doesn’t typically get headaches so, and she’s not really a complainer, so for me, two or three days’ worth of constant headaches that didn’t go away was making me a little nervous.”
Murphy took Lexi to an optometrist who noticed her peripheral vision was limited and her optic nerves were swollen.
“I could tell when my boss was quiet that he was nervous about it and suspected a mass,” Murphy said.
The doctor sent them to the emergency room at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
“That night they found the mass, which that’s all they called it at first, a mass. Then the third she went in for emergency surgery and they removed most of it,” Murphy said. “That Tuesday, they came back with a little bit of pathology that said it was grade four… at the time they weren’t 100% sure what type of tumor it was but grade four cancer.”
Now, Lexi is switching to virtual school. She’s visiting doctors and preparing for the fight of her life.
They have a consultation with a doctor at Tampa General Hospital Friday. The next step is radiation, then chemo.
“It is a wake-up call; how short life can be,” Murphy said.
Family, friends and even strangers are offering emotional support left and right. Lexi’s softball team and her aunt made signs now scattered across her front lawn.
It’s not just the smiles and ‘get wells’ that Lexi’s family needs now; it’s finances.
Lexi’s parents are both out of work as they accompany their daughter to appointments and treatments.
“Not only do we need to help supplement our lost income but also the inevitable medical bills that are going to pile up. We don’t even know yet what insurance might cover, and that’s the last thing on our minds at this point,” Murphy said.
That’s where fundraisers like Lexi’s League come in, which has raised more than $30,000 so far. It’s a piece of Murphy’s plate, so she can focus all her energy on her daughter.
“I think, long-term plan is to hope it doesn’t grow back. Other than that we’re just literally taking it day by day. I can’t even think about tomorrow or the next day.”
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