LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was a celebration for a 10-year-old girl who's beaten the odds at Norton Children's Hospital not once but twice.
Now, Dixie Robertson's family is hoping she can do it again.
Friday, they gathered beneath the sun's rays in the hospital's Healing Garden hoping to provide Dixie with an unforgettable afternoon. Phones were out and shower caps were on as she showered her favorite doctors and nurses with pink and blue slime.
"If you know her in the hospital, you know that all she wants to do is make slime all the time," Taryn Johnson, the child life coordinator at Norton Children's, said.
Physicians, music therapists and nurses crowded around in the shade until it was their turn to make a splash. They took a seat under a bucket of slime which dropped on Dixie's command.
While quiet, she was all smiles.
"Shy is not a word I would ever use to describe Dixie. She doesn't feel well this week, so she rallied to come out and celebrate with us," Johnson said. "On a normal day that is not surrounded by strangers or a big crowd of people supporting her, she's funny and bubbly and outgoing and it's all about slime."
Her journey at the hospital started 9 months ago, when a lump in her leg came back as a rare form of cancer called Ewing Sarcoma.
"She had surgery in March to remove the tumor and at one point we thought we were cancer free," Katie Robertson, Dixie's mom, said.
And then it hit again in July, right after her 10th birthday -- this time in her brain.
Dixie immediately underwent surgery.
"That one was just on the surface but unfortunately, this past Monday, we found out there was another tumor that had surfaced, along with tumors in her lungs," Katie said.
There was no time to waste, Dixie's parents knew there was one wish they had to fulfill.
"We were already a family," Katie said.
But Dixie and her older sister Montana have never shared their step-dad's name, despite Thomas Robertson being there from day one.
"A last name was always something that meant something to them. I wanted to let them make that choice and she just gave me a great big hug," Thomas said.
They talked about an adoption over the last few months, but with Dixie's most recent diagnosis they expedited the process and put pen to paper on Monday.
"When I heard that they were rushing that adoption and making sure it was going to happen, she was so proud to tell me," Johnson said. "She wasn't feeling well the other day, and she told me, 'It went through, I got adopted.' I asked her, 'How did you celebrate that adoption? This is a big thing your family has been working toward for so long,' and that was when she said, 'We came to the hospital. We came here right after that court appointment to sign the paperwork.' I thought we have to do something, this is a huge thing your family has been working toward, so it needs to be celebrated."
A bittersweet celebration in this healing place meant for both patients and their caregivers.
"Staff see really hard things every day, so it can be nice to have a break from the hard and get down and see a kid in their best moments having so much fun sliming everybody," Johnson said.
Ironically, dad was the only one spared.
"I wanted to do him, he didn't do it," Dixie said with a frown as she was wheeled back into the hospital.
Maybe next time, Dixie.
"We are just at this point where we've beaten two odds, we can go for a third one," Katie said. "We're going to keep fighting and keep pushing for Ms. Dixie because her life is worth it."
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