Landry Robinson, the young girl who inspired the Wylie community and coined her own phrase, passed away this week and is finally free of the cancer that she battled for a majority of her young life.
Landry was diagnosed with a brain tumor just after she turned 6, when she was in kindergarten at Wylie. She was the daughter of Kory and Shannon Robinson. Her mother is a teacher at Wylie Junior High, and her brother is now a student at Wylie High School.
The family was on a Spring Break trip in 2009 when Landry admitted to them that she was seeing double. They went to the doctor immediately upon returning home, and in a flash, their lives were changed forever.
The community immediately stepped up to help. The Junior High began raising funds to help the family. Junior League, Outback Steakhouse, Wylie Fastpitch Softball, Wylie Little League and Patty Harper Dance Studio were among the many groups to reach out and do something to help the family.
When Landry was little, she would try to say that she looked fabulous, but it came out “fablious” and that became her rallying cry. Everywhere you turned, Wylie folks were wearing “fablious” T-shirts or wristbands.
After surgery and months of aggressive treatments in Houston, Landry finally got to come home just before Christmas of 2009. Her hair was gone but at the time, so was her cancer. The reprieve from cancer was short lived. Follow-up scans showed new growth, and they were back to Houston for treatments.
Landry spent her entire school years – from Kindergarten to Junior High – going back and forth from Houston to Abilene and even to Boerne for chemo, radiation, and many other treatments and surgeries.
Through it all she stayed positive and kept fighting, and her parents’ faith was a lesson to all who knew them and to many people who did not know them but had heard Landry’s story.
The community rallied again when Landry took a turn for the worse in recent weeks. Junior High teachers stepped up to cover Shannon’s classes, so she could be with her daughter. Friends organized prayer vigils and food for the family. “Fablious” began circulating on Facebook, and community members sent their support and prayers to the family.
Landry passed away on Easter morning.
Wylie’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter rallied around Campbell. They organized another prayer vigil for the family, and students of all ages gathered on a Wylie Little League field last week to remember Landry and pray for her family.
Landry’s battle is over. She is cancer free now and feeling “fablious.” Her life was way too short, but her battle and her parents’ faith continue to be a source of inspiration.
The rest of us can only hope to have as big an impact and touch as many people in our whole lives as she did in only 14 short years.
Our prayers continue to be with the Robinson family.
