Lexie the basketballer bounces into a new chapter
After complications from his stem cell transplant, Jack could not talk or eat for days. During those days Jack held onto his Wish Coin to give him hope that he would get better and go on his wish to sleep next to tigers and lions at Jamala Lodge.
The shuffle that became a sprint
There are two different versions of Lexie the basketballer.
At age 10, still recovering from the effects of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Lexie would shuffle up and down the basketball court. It was a struggle for her.
“When she first started basketball, she could run but it was more like a shuffle. It wasn’t a run,” mum Toni said.
“Now, three years later, she’s tearing up and down the court.”
Lexie’s exploits on the basketball court haven’t gone unnoticed: she’s been selected in one of two Queensland Emerging Basketball Stars teams to play in a national tournament.
And it won’t be the only time she’ll represent Queensland. The 13-year-old is also part of an AFL School Sports Team.
'At one stage, we thought she wasn't going to make it'
Lexie’s rise has come after a difficult medical journey.
She was an active 4-year-old when she complained of a sore tummy.
Next came a small rash on her torso, then a huge swollen gland on the side of her neck.
The swollen gland was the impetus for an immediate flight from her North Queensland home to Brisbane.
"She was very, very sick very quickly," Toni said.
"She went from being slightly unwell to being on a ventilator within 12 hours. It was just so fast."
Doctors diagnosed Lexie with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
For the first six months, Lexie had chemotherapy twice a week and steroids every day.
The biggest hiccup was a fungal inflection which ravaged her little body for months, and eventually, she was put into a medically induced coma.
"At one stage, we thought she wasn't going to make it,” Toni said.
"We would say 'OK Lex, it's just one more day' and she was a trooper.
"She did everything she was told. She did it without whining, without crying. She was so brave."
I'll tell you I have never seen her so happy. It was the first time she's really been able to go on a holiday and do things
Toni, wish mum
Snowballs and skiing for happy Lexie
Lexie’s wish was to leave the hot North Queensland sun for a holiday in the snow.
With COVID-19 stalling the wish, Lexie had to wait until 2023 for her wish to go to the snow with her parents and one of her brothers.
Lexie and her family spent seven nights at Mount Hotham. She learnt to ski and had loads of fun with snowballs.
“Every day she’d come back with a new story and she just loved the snow,” Toni said.
“She was so happy. I'll tell you I have never seen her so happy.”
“It was the first time she's really been able to go on a holiday and do things.
“So maybe that extra time because of the COVID delay wasn't such a bad thing. If she had of gone earlier, she probably couldn't have tried skiing and she probably couldn't have done some of the things that she was able to do.”
Good things will come, says positive Lexie
Being granted a wish motivated Lexie to work hard on her rehab.
“It was a motivation to keep getting better, for Lexie to do more physio,” Toni said.
“Lexie said to herself ‘When I get better, I’m going to have my wish and I am going to have so much fun’.”
Toni said the wish also improved Lexie’s self-belief and self-confidence.
“The wish started Lexie’s mindset of ‘I want to do more’. She never thought she would be able to ski, but she was able to do it,” Toni said.
“And I said ‘You did do it, you did ski. And you can do anything’ and she said ‘Well, I know that now’.”
Lexie, pictured in 2026, said the wish was a positive in her life at a time she faced many challenges.
“My wish reminded me that good things do happen and you should embrace life and every opportunity it gives you,” Lexie said.
“Even if you fail, just keep going and good things will come.”
