Eight-year-old girl befriended by MSU hoops star dies

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DETROIT (AP) — Lacey Holsworth, the 8-year-old girl with
cancer who befriended Michigan State basketball star Adreian Payne and
inspired the team to make her happy by playing well, has died, the
girl’s father said.
Matt Holsworth said Lacey died at their St.
Johns, Mich., home late Tuesday "with her mommy and daddy holding her in
their arms." Lacey met Payne during one of her hospital stays two years
ago, and their friendship quickly blossomed.
"Please don’t let her love and smile fade," Matt Holsworth told The Associated Press in a text
message.
When
it was Payne’s turn to be honored during Senior Night, the 6-foot-10
center scooped up Lacey and carried her around the court. He did it
again in Indianapolis after Michigan State won the Big Ten tournament,
and the little girl with the blond wig was there when he took part in a
recent slam-dunk competition.
"She loved unconditionally and without hesitation," Holsworth said. "Spreading her smile
and love throughout the world."
The
little girl affectionately known as "Princess Lacey," had
neuroblastoma, a fetal-nerve cell cancer. She wore a blond wig because
chemotherapy took her hair.
Lacey watched Michigan State’s NCAA
tournament run from the stands. After Payne scored a career-high 41
points to help Michigan State beat Delaware in one tournament game,
Payne talked as much about what his performance meant to Lacey as it did
to the Spartans.
"It’s like having a family member who’s really
sick," he said. "The only thing you can do is play basketball. You can’t
be there with them. Just knowing that when I play well, it makes her
happy. It feels like I’m doing something, in a way, to make her feel
better."
Back pain while dancing in 2011 led to the discovery of a
football-sized tumor that had engulfed her kidney. After another tumor
wrapped around her spine, her father had to carry her into a hospital on
Dec. 28, 2011. She lost feeling below her belly button and couldn’t
walk on her own for several months, a long stretch that included the
first of many visits from Payne.
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