SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

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t’s a story for everyone, about a little 11-year-old girl, Autumn Fairall, who plays soccer on the Highline Eagles Red ‘96 girls soccer team.

Fairall has played soccer since an early age - four -- her mom said, with the last year making the top-tier Highline Eagles P-1 team.

Used to play.

Fairall was diagnosed with Leukemia on March 2.

Her life is like this now: Her skin is too delicate to take the rigors of shoulder-tackling and aggressive fun that soccer can be. She can’t keep up with that sort of sport, or any sport, really.

Leukemia is a “cancer.”

“It’s going OK. It’s very tiring,” she said.

Leukemia has her literally out of breath now.

Speaking of Leukemia, what is its prognosis?

It is a terminal illness for some. In other words, some, through many doctor visits and medicines through tubes, also known as “chemotherapy,” recover. Some don’t.

Fairall has been to Children’s Hospital in Seattle more than a few times already in the past six months, since being diagnosed in early March. Leukemia, by definition, is a bone disease where the body produces too many white blood cells. Fairall will be fighting it off the next 2 to 3 years with many chemotherapy sessions to come.

How many times has Fairall gone to CH already?

“I really don’t know. I’ve lost count, too many times,” Autumn said.

This attack on Fairall’s life all started in the late winter of this year.

“I started having really bad leg cramps,” said Fairall. “After a few blood tests, we found out I had leukemia.”

March 2.

What did Fairall think about that fact she learned on that March day?

“I really didn’t know what to think,” she said. “I knew it was a really bad disease. I realized that if you catch it quick enough you won’t die from it.”

Autumn’s mom is Erinn.

“We are in phase three right now of five, or six phases, I am not sure how many phases really. We are just taking it one phase at a time,” she said.

There is a movie with Dudley Moore called “Six Weeks,” where a little girl is diagnosed with the cancer, Leukemia, and has that long to live.

Autumn Fairall has a good chance to get better, to fully recover and start doing things she likes doing like soccer.

“That is the general goal,” Erinn Fairall said. “There is an 80 percent cure rate.”

And Autumn’s love for the life given her is so strong, too.

It’s going to be tough, though, for Autumn. Chemotherapy is a yucky thing to have to have done to your body. Fairall has a port that was recently surgically inserted into her, which is where the chemo medications intravenously are placed into her system. It has a cap on it that can be taken on and off, in most cases.

That is all OK.

“Just a great kid. She just shows such a fighting spirit that’s just been a good example to all the girls on the team,” said her coach, Keith Flewelling, with assistant Alan Pederson agreeing.

What does Autumn say when she’s asked why she has to go through this ordeal?

“I feel very blessed,” Autumn said, when she was at a soccer game watching her Red ‘96 teammates play in the SeaTac Cup at Starfire in Tukwila. She even started the game, kicking the ball off. Autumn is a captain on her team, too. Was, anyway.

This is a Christian family, the Fairalls, who are led by Martin, who right now is on work duty with the Coast Guard away from home.

“The Coast Guard flew him right home when we told them of this,” said Erinn Fairall. “They have been a glue to hold our family together.”

The family is surviving fine without that nice extra, but that was a nice thing done by our armed forces.

“We have a very close family,” said Fairall. “I can’t tell you how much it’s touched our heart in so many ways as a family and it’s really neat to see the community spirit all around us.”

What does your husband say to all this?

“He is really glad of all the support from everyone around the community and is very supportive of this,” said Erinn Fairall.

The disease first began to put this family on life support, as it would anyone likely hearing of such news, while Martin was still overseas, when Autumn and Erinn were together in the car driving home from the hospital, March 2, after having learned of the Leukemia.

You talk of being a Christian family. What happened, Erinn, to that spiritual side when your little girl was suddenly diagnosed with a disease like this?

“It’s kind of funny,” said Erinn Fairall. “We never got angry at God. Spirit 105.3 was on when we were coming home from the hospital that first day learning of this. Spirit 105.3 is the station we listen to most.”

Spirit 105.3 FM is a Christian contemporary top-40 music station.

“As we listened, we found out there was a lady that was being interviewed on the station about something very serious going on in her life.”

“I think it was cancer. I don’t quite remember if it was her husband with it, or a friend or she had it. It wasn’t a child, I remember that,” she said. “She was asked a question (by the DJ), ‘Do you question God?’ She said, ‘I don’t question the reason why. That is not a question that can be answered. I ask instead please teach me the lessons I need to know and let me learn them well.’”

And what did you and your daughter say to each other after hearing that come at so well a time.

“The two of us were in the car and I turned to my daughter and said, ‘That’s what we need to focus on,’” she said.

It was good timing to hear something on the radio like that?

“That was a God thing. The Holy Spirit works in a lot of different ways,” she said.

Autumn’s disease was found back in late winter, about a month before March 2.

“She found out a month after tryouts,” said assistant coach Alan Pederson. “She couldn’t shake it; we couldn’t figure out what was going on.”

“I felt very weak, like I couldn’t do very much,” said Fairall.

“She is a mere shadow of her former self,” said Pedersen of Fairall, a very skinny presence on the soccer field and very “white” too, speaking of the color of her skin which happens from the proliferation of the white blood cells.

She could only go on the field to kick the ball and be done because she’s with “very fragile skin” as her mom, Erinn, put it.

“They were thinking of putting her in goal, but she can’t do diving,” said Erinn Fairall.

“My mom grabbed me like this,” said Autumn Fairall, showing her friend on the bench of the recent soccer game she kicked off. Fairall showed a gentle grip on her friend’s arm. “And my arm bruised.”

To really feel sorry for Autumn is one thing, the human thing, but she’s got so much help from others to combat that shadowy appearance, like from her coaches, like Pedersen, and Flewelling.

“I think one thing is the coaches are not just coaches. They are dads to every single girl,” said Erinn Fairall.

There is much support for Autumn.

“Alan works for Microsoft and they have a donation program that is incredible,” she said. “BBQ’s, other fun stuff, too, have been done for the girls getting together.”

Pedersen is great and so is Flewelling.

“Keith teaches goalie,” said Erinn Fairall. “He’s not just a good coach, he inspires them to do so much more. Girls have come a long way with his teaching.”

Erin Fairall mentioned that former Highline Heat/Eagles P-1 soccer association trainer Darren Sawatzky, who used to play for the semi-pro Sounders, and, before that, for Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution, had a part in all this.

“Darren is the one who asked Keith and Alan together to coach,” said Erinn Fairall of Sawatzky, who was an assistant Seattle Sounders coach before now being the Washington State P-1 director. “If you want to see someone energize a team, watch Darren coach.”

Sawatzky did show his support by coming out and kicking the ball around with the Red ‘86 girls and the team they played, blue ‘97, before the recent game that Autumn kicked the ball off. Autumn kicked it to a friend on the other ‘97 blue team, Michelle Holmes.

“She is one of Autumn’s good buddies,” said Erin Fairall.

“I think it’s sad,” said teammate Alison Houke.” Because Autumn is a good person and she doesn’t deserve this.”

“She’s a great friend,” said Katie French. “I think it’s probably really hard to have that.”

“Autumn has spirit,” said Houke. “It’s weird not to have Autumn there.”

But good things have come from this experience for Autumn?

“Autumn is stronger,” said Houke.

“She is doing better,” said French. “We have been hearing good news lately.”

Autumn was having fun watching her teammates play in the Sea-Tac Cup game she kicked off the ball to start the game, well, when she wasn’t having fun holding off would-be attackers Savanna Sandoval and Ilaria Cobb, hanging on her as Fairall playfully fended them off and held them in love.

Fairall likes goalie and defense.

“She’s a goalie and defender,” said Virginia Mattson, another teammate on Autumn’s ‘96 Red team.

“Right defender,” said Fairall. “I was always right.”

“Always right?” said Mattson, and maybe a couple others sitting on the bench at this time during the game.

“Yes, always right,” said Fairall. “I was always the person who was always right.”

She laughed at her joke. So did Mattson, getting it, and Lexi Pedersen, another teammate sitting by Fairall.

It’s been quite an experience for Fairall, too. This leukemia has been great for the “presents” department.

“It’s like Christmas over and over again, but the greatest gift is the people coming over to see me.”

“It’s fun to go see Autumn,” said Annie Gesellchen, on Fairall’s team, too.

Many have done things for Autumn, like Evergreen, a same-age girls team that had one girl of theirs come to the hospital with all kinds of gifts, arts and crafts, and a big card signed by all the players.

There was Melissa Bennett, a former player at Seattle Christian School who set the scoring record for goals in her time there as well as helping the school set a 100 or so straight games without-a-loss streak in getting seven straight 1A girls high school soccer titles under head coach Lisa Peterson. Bennett’s team made Autumn a big quilt.

“There have been a lot of people that have given things to Autumn,” said Flewelling. “People who don’t even know her have stopped by or given her things.”

Well, Autumn sure deserves it and hopefully the caring keeps on continuing. This little girl has a lot left to give to this world: it’s easy to see just looking at her genuine smile and look on life while having now one of the worst diseases a kid can ever have.

So how will you get through this?

“With God’s help and lots of friends,” said Autumn, who was whispered to then by a friend, Savanna Sandoval, who watched Autumn kick off the recent game.

“Yes, and prayer,” she said.

There is a place to learn more about Autumn and help her out. Her website area is www.caringbridge.org/visit/autumnfairall. Also, the HPFC (Highline Premier Football Club), which is www.hpfcpremier.com.