Jennie Nichols

Jennie Marie Nichols, 14, of Olathe, passed away peacefully on June 20, 2015 in the company of her parents. After a two year battle with osteosarcoma, Jennie went to her Heavenly reward.

Jennie Bean, as she was known by her family, was born on November 15, 2000 to Michael and Kelly (Miller) Nichols in Overland Park. Born five weeks early, Jennie's indomitable spirit was evident from the very beginning. Even before she could talk, she was never one to be shy about expressing her opinion.

Jennie loved being a little girl: always involved in dress-up, dancing, crafting, playing with her Barbie dolls, or baking cookies with her grandmother. Before her little brother was born, Jennie had an imaginary little sister, Elda.

During her time at Aldersgate preschool, Jennie's natural leadership abilities came to the fore. She was always one to make sure that everyone was included, making up games if necessary to involve others.

On her very first day of kindergarten at Brougham Elementary School, she befriended Carly Duncan. Jennie and Carly would remain best friends for the rest of Jennie's days. Aside from attending the same elementary and middle schools, they participated in Girl Scouts together, earning their Bronze Award. Jennie and Carly also attended each others' church camps and vacation Bible schools together. At Frontier Trail Middle school both girls tried out for the cheerleading and attended volleyball camp.

Jennie was always a very active girl, engaging in many different pastimes. She attended Aldersgate United Methodist Church where she was active in her youth groups. Jennie earned her black belt in tae-kwon-do. She learned to play piano. She enjoyed going to crafting sessions at Michaels and art classes at Johnson County Community College. She was an accomplished fingernail artist, frequently having the neighborhood kids (mostly boys!) gathered around to have their nails done with the design of their choice. Jennie loved animals, especially her cat LaLa. Mostly, she just liked being with friends, doing whatever seemed fun at the time.

At the beginning of her seventh grade year, Jennie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, bone cancer, in her right thigh. In between chemotherapy treatments, scans, biopsies, and a large surgery to remove her tumor, Jennie just wanted to be herself. She met a new friend: Madison, who was undergoing cancer treatment as well at the Children's Mercy Hospital. She maintained her studies at home and would have friends over as often as she could. In the summer of 2014, after completing chemotherapy, Jennie and Madison attended Camp Quality, a camp for kids with cancer.

Osteosarcoma, while having an initial prognosis that appears hopeful, has very few treatment options if the initial chemotherapy regimen, which was developed in the 1970's, proves unsuccessful. Indeed, three months after Jennie's cancer treatment had ended, the cancer showed back up in scans. This time, due to the nature and location of the tumor and how it sprang back up so soon after treatment, Jennie was advised that the best course of action would now be to seek out clinical trials for osteosarcoma. Her doctors found a trial at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston involving immunotherapy, training her own immune system to fight the cancer. While in Texas to set up the study, Jennie made an excursion down to Galveston, and along with her family was able to enjoy a day at the beach.

Unfortunately, Jennie's participation in the study would require a few weeks of preparation by the hospital. In the meantime, it was arranged, through the Make-A-Wish foundation, that Jennie, her family, and even Carly would go and spend a week in Orlando. Jennie was able to visit each of the Disneyland theme parks and spend a day at Cocoa Beach shopping and playing on the beach. She even got to do some indoor skydiving.

In early April of this year, Jennie and Kelly moved down to Houston for four weeks to participate in the immunotherapy trial. Even through increasing pain, Jennie was able to enjoy some shopping days, eating out, and another day at Galveston beach. It was a special time for Jennie and her mother. Regrettably, scans showed that Jennie's cancer was continuing to grow while on treatment and her pain was getting worse every day.

With a heavy heart, Jennie left the study and returned home to be surrounded by her family, friends, and pets. Jennie died serenely in the embrace of her mother and father.

Jennie is survived by her mother, father, and younger brother Graham; maternal grandmother Connie Marie (Denny) Miller, paternal grandparents Jim and Shirley Nichols, and many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins. Jennie was preceded in death by her paternal grandmother Jennie Elizabeth (Olson) Nichols, maternal grandfather Larry Miller, and his mother Luelda (Babst) Miller.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 AM on June 27, 2015 at Grace United Methodist Church in Olathe.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be given to Jennie's Medical Fund at the Bank of Blue Valley. All proceeds will be donated directly to osteosarcoma research.