Lacey Holsworth, the girl whose courageous battle with a rare form of cancer inspired the Michigan State basketball team on its NCAA Tournament run, has passed away, according to her family. She was 8 years old.
“Princess Lacey has achieved the ultimate victory,” the family wrote on Instagram. “She now dances among angels. … The world is a better place because you were in it. Our hearts are broken. We love you Doll. Dance all night … Mommy and Daddy, Will, Mitchell, and Luke. #LoveLikeLacey”
Her father, Matt Holsworth, says Lacey died at their St. Johns, Mich., home late Tuesday “with her mommy and daddy holding her in their arms.”
Lacey formed a special bond with Spartans forward Adreian Payne after he visited her two years ago in the Michigan hospital where she was being treated for neuroblastoma, a cancer that attacks the nervous system.
He took to calling her “Princess Lacey” and drew attention on social media to her brave fight. Lacey traveled to New York to watch Payne and Michigan State at the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden and saw him participate in the slam dunk contest at this past weekend’s Final Four in Texas in her final days.
“She helped me in a lot of ways,” Payne said when he visited the Garden. “Me being able to spend time with her, take my mind off basketball, that’s good when you can do that.”