SPOKANE -- Thursday night the Moscow Ballet Company took to the stage at the Fox Theater in Downtown Spokane. Joining them on stage, a 12-year-old Spokane girl who's about to begin the fight of her life.
Hannah Baumann was diagnosed with cancer last Saturday, She begged her doctors to put off the chemo until Friday all for one reason. It's been a lifelong dream of hers to perform with a professional dance group and Thursday it came true.
"It's a pretty big deal I think," said Hannah.
Oh it's a big deal alright and not just to Hannah. There will be many others in the audience that will be watching her every move.
"It means the world to her," said Hannah's father Mike Baumann.
Watching Hannah dance, you would never know that just this past weekend the 12-year-old received some grim news.
"I was really scared," said Hannah.
"Saturday changed our life forever," said Mike.
Last week Hannah's mom noticed a lump on her daughter's neck. Doctors later discovered that it was Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Doctor's wanted to start chemotherapy as soon as possible, but Hannah talked them into holding off until Friday, one day after her performance. The reason, she didn't want to start losing her hair before Friday's show.
"I didn't want to be tired for this," said Hannah. "I want to put my best effort into this."
Doctors came up with a plan to get Hannah through her performance.
"He just figured that would give her a little boost before she does go in which it totally has," said Hannah's mother Tami. "It's given her something to get through today and she knows tomorrow we will start fresh and take care of what we need to take care of."
Hannah was among the select few Spokane dancers chosen to dance in the performance.
"They only pick a few people and I was one of the lucky people who got picked," said Hannah.
And so tonight, if only for a few minutes, Hannah forgot about the struggles ahead.
Unfortunately this isn't the first bad news the Baumann's have had to endure. In the last year Tami underwent open heart surgery, and Mike lost his job.
If you would like to help out Hannah and her family you can look under New Links for some more information, or you can make a donation at any Spokane Teachers Credit Union Bank under the account "A thing called love."
