Kayla Bolton had a megawatt, ear-to-ear grin that made other people smile just to see it.
And they saw it a lot.
“She was a light among the students, with her smile,” said Melanie Roper, principal of Crystal City Elementary School, where Kayla had just finished the third grade. “She always had a smile on her face. I know that’s a cliche, but she really did. She was just a very happy kid.”
Kayla died June 16, after a three-year battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
She was upbeat and active, even through the treatments that often left her weak and nauseated.
“That poor little thing would be sick in the morning and then come back to class and just get on with things,” Roper said. “It had to be hard, losing her hair, but she wore the cutest little bows and headbands and made it work. She was just so brave.”
Kayla was a normal, active little girl with a bubbly personality and a love of swimming, dancing and roller skating.
“She was very outgoing,” said Betty Bolton of Crystal City, Kayla’s grandmother. “From the time she was a little girl, she was always wanting to dance and sing.”
When Kayla was 6, she started complaining of back pain following dance class, and her family began to be concerned.
“Everybody seemed to think she had hurt herself tumbling or something,” Betty said. “But the doctor told me, ‘When a little kid says they’re hurting, there’s usually something wrong.’ So right away, they ordered blood tests. When the tests came back, they told us they needed to admit her immediately.”
The diagnosis upset the adults, but little Kayla just went on with her life.
“The doctors told us that when they tell grown people they have cancer, adults will grieve themselves to death,” Betty said. “They know what it means. But children don’t look at it that way; they know it’s not good, but they really don’t know what it means. So they’re better able to deal with it.
“Kayla was always happy, always bubbly, always playing with kids. It didn’t knock her spirit at all.”
Betty said her family is very grateful for the outpouring of sympathy and help.
“The family and community support has been really good,” she said. “All the teachers, the counselor, everybody – they really understood. She would be really sick and wouldn’t be able to attend school, and a teacher would come here and help her do her work.”
The Student Council at Crystal City High School sponsored a “White Out for Leukemia” game in 2013 which raised $2,779 during the CCHS vs. St. Pius girls basketball contest.
“Kayla was like the queen of the night,” said StuCo sponsor Laura Helwig. “She sat on the bench with the team for part of the time and ran around with her friends. She had an absolute ball that night.”
At the elementary school, students mounted a “Pennies for Patients” program to raise funds in Kayla’s name.
After more than two years of treatment, Kayla’s cancer seemed to be in remission. In April, she and her family spent a week at Walt Disney World in Florida, sponsored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Kayla enjoyed swimming at several water parks in the area and came home ready to tackle summer school.
Then she got an infection on her foot that wouldn’t heal.
“They gave her antibiotics, but she just wasn’t feeling right,” her grandmother said. “She would go from the sofa to the bed and just lay there – and that wasn’t Kayla.”
She ended up in the pediatric ICU at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur.
“It was horrible after that,” her grandmother said, her voice breaking. “They gave her platelets and blood to try to get her white count up. They put her on a respirator, and they did a tracheotomy. But none of it worked.”
Roper said dealing with Kayla’s death has been tough for the whole community.
“This was hard for everyone. We thought she was getting better,” she said. “We just weren’t ready for it.”
When they heard the sad news, staff from the school as well as from Wee Care preschool in Festus, where Kayla had gone as a toddler, visited the Boltons.
“We went to Betty to express our condolences, and to ask her how the family would like us to make the knowledge available to the school,” Roper said. “The next day we brought all the kids in her grade into the library and they got to make cards, and to write down their favorite memories of Kayla. It seemed to help, having the chance for them to grieve together.”
Roper said Kayla’s situation gave other children the chance to develop compassion and caring.
“The kids really took care of her,” Roper said. “A lot of parents helped their kids understand it and did what they could to help her and her family through it.”
She said counselors will be on hand at Kayla’s funeral services, and that help is always available from the staff at school. “We’re going to miss her very much,” Roper said.
Visitation will be at 10 a.m. and funeral services at 1 p.m. today (June 28), at Mahn Twin City Chapel, 515 Collins Ave., in Festus.
Betty Bolton said that her granddaughter’s life, although more brief than anyone would have wished, had deep meaning.
“She was fun, a loving person,” Betty said. “She just enjoyed the time she had here on earth to the fullest. I will tell anybody: Love your family, and take a lot of pictures. Pictures are memories.
“Tomorrow is not promised to anyone – but if you have those memories, that’s something that can’t be taken from you.”
An online account has been set up to accept donations to help with funeral expenses. Visit https://www.giveforward.com and enter Kayla’s name in the search bar.
“Life Story,” posted each Saturday on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.