The PTA Annual Fun Fair at Lithia Springs Elementary School featured also a benefit raffle and auction for former student and now second-grader Mandy Willis, who lives near the school. Willis is battling optic glioma, a tumor on the optic nerve. On her first birthday, she was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that leaves her lacking a tumor-suppressing gene. "Only 10 percent of the cases become complicated like hers did," said Mandy Willis' mother, Natalie, pictured with her daughters, Mandy and Alannah, 14, a student at Blake High School. As for Mandy, and the many others at Lithia Springs who have been stricken with cancer, Natalie said, "God makes these kids differently. When they have battles to fight, they're made different, they're strong, they have a peace, a strength about them. There's joy in everything. Sometimes they have to look harder to find it, but these kids know how to find it."

Natalie Willis, whose Belive in Mandy blog keeps family and friends updated on Mandy's fight, said her daughter is doing "beautifully," having just learned that there has been a 10 percent reduction in the tumor she has been fighting for almost a year. "She's just Mandy," Natalie added. "She always has a smile on her face, always laughing. She bounces into chemotherapy like she's going on a play date."

Mandy shares her school studies between homebound education and Philip Shore Elementary School, where her mother used to teach before tending to Mandy round- the-clock as needed. Mandy receives chemotherapy every Wednesday, so Natalie Willis said she needs to stay home two days a week. Still, the Lithia Springs Elementary School community wanted to do something for Mandy, who attended the school for kindergarten and first grade. The call came from James Council of the Parent-Teacher Association. "It's incredibly touching, incredibly heart-warming and incredibly humbling that they reached out to us," Natalie Willis said. Why did they do it? "Because they're good people," Willis added. "I don't know that there's a better explanation for it."

The PTA Annual Fun Fair at Lithia Springs Elementary School featured also a benefit raffle and auction for former student and now second-grader Mandy Willis, who lives near the school. Willis is battling optic glioma, a tumor on the optic nerve. On her first birthday, she was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that leaves her lacking a tumor-suppressing gene. "Only 10 percent of the cases become complicated like hers did," said Mandy Willis' mother, Natalie, pictured with her daughters, Mandy and Alannah, 14, a student at Blake High School. As for Mandy, and the many others at Lithia Springs who have been stricken with cancer, Natalie said, "God makes these kids differently. When they have battles to fight, they're made different, they're strong, they have a peace, a strength about them. There's joy in everything. Sometimes they have to look harder to find it, but these kids know how to find it."

Natalie Willis, whose Belive in Mandy blog keeps family and friends updated on Mandy's fight, said her daughter is doing "beautifully," having just learned that there has been a 10 percent reduction in the tumor she has been fighting for almost a year. "She's just Mandy," Natalie added. "She always has a smile on her face, always laughing. She bounces into chemotherapy like she's going on a play date."

Mandy shares her school studies between homebound education and Philip Shore Elementary School, where her mother used to teach before tending to Mandy round- the-clock as needed. Mandy receives chemotherapy every Wednesday, so Natalie Willis said she needs to stay home two days a week. Still, the Lithia Springs Elementary School community wanted to do something for Mandy, who attended the school for kindergarten and first grade. The call came from James Council of the Parent-Teacher Association. "It's incredibly touching, incredibly heart-warming and incredibly humbling that they reached out to us," Natalie Willis said. Why did they do it? "Because they're good people," Willis added. "I don't know that there's a better explanation for it."