St. Thomas family showered with community support amid their young daughter's cancer battle

Dave and Kristy Costa of St. Thomas, Ont. say their world changed when on Labour Day last year, their 10-year-old daughter Lacey was diagnosed with stage three of metastatic melanoma, which is a rare form of skin cancer.

"It was devastating," Kristy said. "We both were like 'How did this happen?' It was frustrating."

It started in 2018, with a mole that was removed from Lacey's left — her dominant — hand, which eventually came back as a lump that required part of her hand to be amputated in December. But that didn't stop the cancer from spreading to other parts of her body.

Her family says delays due to pandemic-induced wait times and misdiagnoses caused the melanoma to progress to stage four, leaving Lacey who's now 11, bedridden and on immunotherapy. It's not yet known if her body is responding to treatment or not.

The intense treatment meant Kristy had to take time off from her job to care for Lacey full-time. That's when several community members, including some who used to be strangers to the family, stepped up to provide the Costas with both financial and moral support.

This has included making custom T-shirts and bracelets that say #LaceyStrong and their neighbours all putting up 'no child fights alone' signs on their lawn. 

The couple says it's been overwhelming to see how loved and supported Lacey is during this time. Kristy says she tells Lacey this is her fight against the "big beast," and the community is her tribe.

"It's so important as a family who's going down this journey of just, for lack of a better word ... awfulness, is to see your community rally around you and bring so much light to your situation," Kristy said. 

"And I think that's really important for Lacey to know that when her reservoirs of strength are diminishing that these situations kind of help fill them back up again."

Kristy says the gold print on the T-shirt represents Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September, and the black colour honours the ribbon for melanoma awareness.

'A tough journey'

Lacey's days are extremely uncomfortable because she experiences lots of pain with the sites of cancer in her bones. She uses a CADD pump which delivers an infusion of pain medicine along with some oral medications. 

She takes at least 13 different types of medications everyday to offset the pump's side effects, said Dave. 

"There's some hard days and then there's days that you have optimism and hope that things are going to work out, but it's definitely a tough journey to watch your girl go through everything she's been going through," he said. 

Before the cancer, Lacey had been a competitive dancer since the age of two and her favourite hobby included reading books and horseback riding, her dad said. 

"She's a very intelligent little girl who loves school and mathematics is a really strong point for her," said Dave.  

"Her dream is to be a veterinarian on large animals so hopefully we'll get her there."

When the Costa's former neighbour, Yvonne Taylor, heard what the family was going through, she knew she had to help in some way.  

Taylor organized a few fundraiser and raffle events to help the Costas financially. Last week, her son Adam hosted a stand-up comedy show called 'Laughs for Lacey' which raised over $10,000.

"It makes us feel like we're doing something so it's been good because they're important to us and we'll do anything to help them," she said.

Lacey's next scan on Sept. 8 is when the family will find out if the immunotherapy treatment is working or not. But they remain grateful to their community for all the love.

"Many times I've fallen to my knees and just been very emotional about it because everyone who is supporting our girl is bringing light in a very dark time, and I think it just restores and reminds me of all the good that's out there," Kristy said