In the fall of 2017, it seemed like an ordinary day for Sarah Collins, a mom of two young girls.
“My girls were 15 months apart in age,” said the Rogersville native. “When you have little kids like that, when one is sick, the other one is probably going to be sick too.”
So Sarah did what any mom would do.
“I threw dinner in the crockpot, laundry in the washer, loaded the girls up, and headed to the doctor,” Sarah said.
She thought her daughters Bryley and Paisley both had ear infections, but the diagnosis was far from ordinary.
“No family ever wants to hear the four words, your child has cancer,” Sarah said.
They were four words that would change Sarah and her family’s lives forever.
“[I] had no idea that I wouldn’t come home for 9 months and obviously didn’t know that she would never come home again,” Sarah said.
Paisley was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia.
“Paisley was sweet, she was a lover, but I really think her biggest trait is that she was a fighter,” said Paisley’s father, Tyson.
That fighter attitude helped Paisley go into remission.
But then she contracted a virus that took over her lungs. Paisley died at two years old.
“She was just beautiful, full of life. Her smile would light up a room,” Sarah said. And her favorite color was purple.”
“That was what we painted her room at the house,” Tyson added. “We’ve just stuck with it.”
They stuck with her favorite color as Sarah and Tyson started the Paisley Collins Memorial Foundation to raise money for pediatric cancer families in Southwest Missouri.
“The last thing you want to think about when your child has cancer is, you need to go sit down and pay the bills, and although it’s the last thing you are thinking about it still has to be done,” Sarah said. “So therefore we want to be that person that helps with the the burden.”
It’s the perfect way to honor Paisley.
“Purple. A Butterfly. And a gold ribbon,” Tyson said about the foundation’s logo.
At Rogersville’s annual purple night, the boys basketball team wears the logo proudly. They help raise awareness for the foundation during warmups and during the game itself with Paisley’s name written across their jerseys.
And on Purple Night, the fans in the stands contribute to the cause.
“It’s just overwhelming support, I mean you pass a couple of baskets around and you collect 3 or 4 thousand dollars in a matter of 15 minutes,” Tyson said.
The Foundation has granted over $70,000 to local families.
“Just says a lot about Paisley and how awesome she was,” Tyson said. “You know what kind of legacy she is leaving. It’s a testament to her grit, her fight and her determination.”
“Your strength comes from your community as well,” Sarah added. “(Rogersville Head) Coach (John) Schaefer has always taken us under his wing and just made a point that he wants to spread the word and he wants to spread the message that this foundation is out there.”
It’s an extraordinary message in the name of an extraordinary little girl.
