Just last Friday, our community gathered at the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It was here that we honored cancer survivors and remembered those who, just like little Lacey, lost a battle to the disease.

When 6-foot-10 Michigan State basketball player Adreian Payne met 8-year-old Lacey Holsworth, he had no idea the impact she would have on his life. Nearly two years ago, the two met while she was in the hospital battling cancer. Payne and his teammates often made rounds in the nearby hospital, giving hope to kids who didn’t have much. It was then that he met Lacey, who became family to him despite their differences.

In 2011, Lacey was experiencing severe back pain while dancing, which prompted the discovery of a nearly football-sized tumor that had engulfed her kidney. Soon thereafter, another tumor wrapped around her spine making it nearly impossible for her to walk.

Princess Lacey, as the entire Michigan State basketball team called her, was battling neuroblastoma, a cancer that develops in immature nerve cells throughout the body.

She was his number one supporter and he soon reciprocated. Payne invited her to several basketball games and stopped by to see her often. It was just recently that she attended the College Slam Dunk Competition in Dallas along with numerous home games and the Big Ten Championship Game where she helped Payne cut down the net after they won.

Michigan State’s Little Biggest Fan unexpectedly passed away just last week in her Michigan home in her parents’ arms. Payne was devastated, but he knew this was inevitable.

In his personal address after Lacey’s death, Payne said it all.

“… 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… I know she’s smiling and dancing in heaven right now. My princess is now an angel.”

Not only had Payne changed Lacey’s life, but she had a large impact on his life and left him with memories that would last forever. Regardless of the pain she endured, seeing Payne play, win or lose, brought more joy to her than we will never know. She loved him and the Spartans. Despite the curveballs life had thrown at her by the age of 8, she loved life. She showed us that love and friendship can help us overcome some of life’s hardest battles; that it was no longer about win or lose, but instead that being there for the people who matter and mean something to you is what life is all about.

Just last month, Michigan State’s Men’s Basketball coach Tom Izzo stood hand in hand with Lacey at the basketball banquet as he addressed the players, friends and families. It was really then that things were put into perspective for him and that they are much greater life lessons to be learned off the court with his players.

Life is much too short to dwell on the small things. As my grandfather always told me, “It’s not a bad life, it’s just a bad day.”

College is always such a stressful time that we often forget to stop and acknowledge all of the things we have. Just being able to attend this university, or any college in our nation for that matter, is an opportunity that many people around the world will never have. Life is way too short to sweat the small stuff, especially when you know looking back in a few years that the insignificant details that stress us out on a daily basis will be completely irrelevant.

It’s people like Lacey that can teach us so much. She touched more lives with her smile than could ever be imagined. The death of Princess Lacey really puts things into perspective. Despite the inevitable pain that Payne knew was coming with the death of his younger sister, he still took the initiative to make her a large part of his life and always held her with loving arms. It’s the gestures that we make without expecting anything in return that make us better people.

What is most important here is to take a few steps back to acknowledge all of the things we are blessed with, to forget all of the trying times we have endured just for a few moments and realize that there is so much more to life.

Allie Ebben ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in nursing.