Why We Fight.

Below are our Featured Fighters for our 2026 Season, read more about their stories along with additional features at the bottom

Jess Hagenhoff shares her story as the mother of last year’s feature fighter, Lukas Hagenhoff

I wanted to take a minute to share Lukas’s story, because this little boy has been through more in his few years of life than most people face in a lifetime—and he’s still smiling through it all.

Before Lukas was even born, our world was turned upside down. When I was 26 weeks pregnant, my oldest son and I were in a car accident. It left me with severe whiplash and sent me into early contractions. I was terrified. What I didn’t know back then was that the accident had also caused an injury to Lukas—a small bowel rupture—that didn’t show up until after he was born.

At just three days old, Lukas went into surgery for another bowel issue doctors already knew about, and that’s when they found the rupture. The amazing part? Because he had still been safe inside my womb when it happened, everything was sterile. The doctors said if it hadn’t been discovered during that surgery, he could’ve gotten very sick—maybe even septic—and being born at 35 weeks, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have made it. I still get chills thinking about how close we came to losing him before we even began. Lukas spent 11 long weeks in the hospital after that. He came home with a g-tube to help with feeding, and the day we finally brought him home was one I’ll never forget—it was the day before his big sister’s 6th birthday. She said it was the best present ever.

When he was just 5 months old, Lukas caught Covid and spent 6 days in the hospital. Then at 7 months, he had open-heart surgery to repair three holes in his tiny heart. Over the next couple of years, he faced multiple hernia surgeries, ear tubes, and even a tonsillectomy. Every time, I told myself, “Okay, maybe now things will slow down.” But in September of 2024, our world stopped again. Lukas was diagnosed with leukemia. We started chemo right away. The first hospital stay was brutal—35 days for his port surgery and that first intense cycle. For kids with Down syndrome, leukemia is actually more common, but the chemo is harder on their bodies. One doctor told me something that I’ll never forget: “It’s not always the cancer that takes our kids with Down syndrome—it’s the side effects or the infections their bodies can’t fight.” Hearing that broke me. But I also knew Lukas was a fighter.

There were two rounds of chemo that were especially hard—28 days each, 24 hours a day, nonstop medicine pumping through his port. But every single time, he found a way to smile. Even when he felt miserable, even when I wanted to crumble, his strength lifted me up. Right now, we’re in the maintenance phase, which feels a little lighter, but it doesn’t mean we’re done fighting. For his 4th birthday, we spent a week in the hospital because of a simple cold that turned serious so fast. That’s just part of life with chemo and a fragile immune system. But there’s light ahead. If all goes as planned, Lukas will finish treatment by spring or summer of 2027.

I can’t wait for the day we get to ring that remission bell together and finally put this chapter behind us. Lukas has taught me what real courage looks like. He’s proof that miracles still happen, and I’m just so grateful every single day that I get to be his mom.

Margo Brown, one of our 2026 feature fighters, shares a special story and a positive message

“Hi, my name is Margo, a 14-year-old cancer patient here at MU’s Children’s Hospital. I was diagnosed with Leukemia in April of 2025. My journey has been very hard, but in August 2025, I made it to remission, but I still have long journey of treatment ahead! After chemo, I would get to go to the prize box, but there was never anything for teenagers. So, my mom and I decided to put together carts to donate to the hospital for teenage patients. With the help of the community and the Child Life Team, we were able to make that wish come true. Whatever you are going through, remember that you are stronger than you think—Just like a dragon. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” -Philippians. I hope something from this cart brings you joy. You got this and STAY STRONG” -Margo

Margo Brown, 13, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in April. She began treatment at the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center at MU Health Care, where kids got to visit the “prize box” after completing rounds of chemotherapy or other intense treatments and long-term care. But this prize box is different and focuses attention on the older demographic of the kids in the pediatric unit, their prizes range on the side of what an older kid may like to receive filled with games, drawing tools, cool clothing items and more. Margo has become an advocate for those older kids in the unit as she continues a fight of her own.

To donate to Margo’s Prize Box , use the link below to purchase items from her Amazon wishlist.

AMAZON LINK HERE

Tara Stone shares what it’s like for her son, Bennett Stone — one of this year’s featured fighters — who was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 3.

Bennett had just turn three when he was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Like most parents, nothing prepares you for the moment you hear the words, your child has cancer. What followed was a flood of information, uncertainty, and a life that shifted overnight.

The day of his diagnosis began with a CT scan in Columbia that almost didn’t happen. Between scheduling issues and a strong-willed three-year-old, it felt like everything was working against us. With help, the scan was completed, and that same day we were faced with the possibility that Bennett had cancer. We were admitted immediately, and life as we knew it changed.

Since then, Bennett has spent more time in hospitals and clinics than any child should. His days have included chemotherapy, procedures and medications. Through it all, Bennett has faced each phase of treatment with courage and resilience, showing strength far beyond his years.

After the initial phase of chemotherapy, Bennett became disease-free, an outcome we were told is uncommon. He continues treatment and remains disease-free. We are now in the maintenance phase of chemotherapy, which has allowed life to feel a little more "normal." We are in the single digits of months until Bennett gets to ring the bell (September 2026), and we can’t wait to celebrate him when he does.

Jordan Roberts shares her story about her daughter, one of this year’s Featured Fighters, Laekyn Hardy.

Laekyn was diagnosed with bcell acute lymphoblastic leukemia just a week before Christmas 2024, and with autism and global developmental delay just a month after that. She has 6 siblings. Brevyn (boy 15), Ani & Emi (twins girls age 13) Brayden (boy 12), Charlie (girl 10) & Lenyx (9).

Laekyn got extremely sick in Sept 2024. She had been fighting fevers off and on for a few days with no other symptoms but sept. 24th she became really pale and I just had a gut feeling something was really wrong. My niece drove Laekyn and I to urgent care, where she become more and more pale and starting getting petechiae on her arms. The urgent care doctor told me he didn’t want me to freak out but that I needed to get her to MU Women’s and Children’s Emergency Room ASAP because she needed extensive lab work done that they weren’t equipped to do at their facility. I asked if I had time to go back home and get her dad as I had a bad feeing we weren’t going to be coming back home that day. The doctor said yes but not to waste any time. I called her dad as we left urgent care and explained Laekyn needed to go to the hospital, that I was coming home so he could go with us, and asked if he could pack us overnight bags just in case. By the time I got home he had bags ready to go.

About 15 minutes into the trip (we lived about an hour and a half from womens and children’s) I looked back at Laekyn and she had lost the little bit of color she had left. She had no color to her cheeks or lips, as terrible as it sounds she looked like a corpse and she was also in and out of consciousness. I immediately unbuckled and got into the back seat with her to try and keep her awake. I was taking ice out of my water and putting it to her lips and on her face to keep her awake. I told her dad I didn’t think we would make it to women’s and children’s and to head to st Mary’s hospital instead as it was a lot closer. I then called St Mary’s to let them know our situation so they would be ready for us when we got there.

Once we got to St Mary’s her dad dropped us at the ER doors and I ran her inside. They took one look at her and waved us through to triage. The nurse there immediately called the Dr and let him know we needed him right then. She took her vitals and brought us straight to a room where the Dr was waiting for us. He took one look at her and started their sepsis protocol. He had labs drawn stat, and about 20 min later he came back in the room to let us know she was pancytopenic (critically low blood counts across the board). He told us he had already spoke with MU Women’s and Children’s, he said he was going to start her on broad spectrum antibiotics, but that there was already an ambulance enroute to transport her. He told us that her labs were very concerning and that their hospital was also no equipped to give her the care she would need and that we would be admitted to the PICU upon arrival.

When we got to MU Women’s and Children’s everything was moving so quickly and most of it is still a blur all these months later. We were met with several doctors and a ton of nurses. They asked us all kinds of questions, ran a ton of tests on Laekyn, took a detailed history, hooked her up to oxygen, and gave several images taken. They had to run some tests that needed to be sent off to Mayo and told us to expect being there for several days while they sorted out what exactly was going on with her. We ended up in the hospital for several days. During that time we found out Laekyn had neutropenic sepsis, streptococcus pneumoniae, and rhinovirus. That combination caused a plueral effusion and hydronephrosis of her right kidney. She ended up having to have TPN (iv nutrition) at one point because she refused to eat or drink anything, and a NG tube was also placed at another time. She was on oxygen the majority of the time we were there, different antibiotics, and several other medications. She lost several pounds, and we almost lost her. She was seen my physical and occupational therapist. The staff and providers were exceptional and they made such a terrifying time more bearable. They called her situation “a perfect storm” and we were never able to get a truly definitive answer to what happened with her to make her levels tank. They had spoke of leukemia, aplastic anemia, HLH and some other possibilities and slowly started eliminating them as more rest results came back. She received several blood and platelet transfusions while we were there, but eventually her blood counts started to recover on their own. We left the hospital October 5th, 2024 with follow ups with hem/onc & nephrology.

November 14th, 2024 after two hematology/oncology follow ups Laekyn had been cleared from their services. Her blood counts had make a full recovery and she had gotten back to being herself. I remember at that visit watching a little girl around the age of 5 or 6 ring the bell right outside the hem/onc room we were in at clinic. My mom had came to that appt with Laekyn and I, and I remember telling her with tears in my eyes as I watched that beautiful little girl ring the bell “I know we went through something terrible with Laekyn, but it could have been worse. She could have had cancer, and I don’t know that I could’ve gotten through that, I am so incredibly relieved that we can put this behind us now. That relief lasted for a couple of days, and then I had another gut feeling something was wrong. Laekyn seemed fine and I had no real reason to be feeling the way I was. I spoke with everyone I'm closest to about how I was feeling and they all had something similar to say. To summarize they all basically said that what we went through with Laekyn was really traumatic and that I’m likely experiencing some PTSD from it all and I’d probably feel like this for a while. It made sense and so I tried my best to just keep pushing forward and continue to be grateful she was still here with us and everything turned out okay.

Unfortunately that feeling never went away, and on December 16th she woke up with a fever, had marbled skin, and looked pale again. I immediately called her dad and told him “I’m really sorry but I need you to come home right now, something is wrong with Laekyn and we need to get her to the ER now” so he came home, we packed back up and headed back to St Mary’s just because it was considerably closer than MU. So we get her to the hospital and ironically we have the same triage nurse and the same ER doctor from her previous visit. He said he wanted to get blood work done STAT again just because of what happened last time. Again, 20 minutes later he comes in informing us her blood counts are low again, not as bad as they had been in September but low enough he had contact MU Women’s and Children’s again and was going to have her transported to them again. I knew right then and there it was cancer and asked him if he thought so too. I remember making the comment “there’s no way this has happened twice and it isn’t cancer right?” He told me not to get ahead of myself, that there’s a chance it’s something else but agreed that something wasn’t right.

We get to MU and had some of the same amazing nurses we had the first time around. Given her recent stay there they said they wanted to get lab work done and prepared us for the possibility of a lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy. Sure enough the following morning they came in and said that her labs showed some Lymphoblasts in her blood smear, something that hadn’t been present back in sept. They said they would like to move forward with a bone marrow biopsy and a lumbar puncture to confirm their suspicion of leukemia. They scheduled it for the following day (18th), and told us we should have an answer roughly 6 hours after the procedure. The following day comes along and confirmed our greatest fear, our sweet, full of life, spunky 3.5 year old daughter has B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and she needed to start treatment immediately. They let us know they had scheduled for a port to be placed the next day and that she would start receiving chemo just a few hours after she gets out of surgery.

We were absolutely devastated, overwhelmed with so many fears. We had so many questions and had no idea how we were going to break the news to all of her siblings with Christmas being just a week away. We were told we would be in the hospital for several days, which meant we wouldn’t be home for Christmas. We ultimately decided to wait to tell them until they were out on Christmas break. We wanted to be able to tell them in person so we both spoke to our moms, and asked them to bring all of them up on the 23rd so we could tell me. It’s one of the hardest things we have ever had to do, of course they were heartbroken and scared of all the possibilities. We were blessed to have Katie (child life specialist) there to help us break the news to them. She made what felt like an impossible situation, so much easier for us and we are so grateful to have had her there with us in that moment.

Laekyn is now a little over a year into treatment, with over 60 clinic visits, 7 hospital stays (totaling 40 days inpatient), 3 surgeries, 4 bone marrow biopsies, close to 20 lumbar punctures, countless port accesses and blood draws under her belt. She’s been given so many different medications, some part of her treatment protocol, and some to help manage the side effects of the 8 different chemotherapy drugs she’s had administered since her fight began. She is now in maintenance, cycle 2, with I believe 5 more cycles left to go spanning over the next year and a half.

Leukemia has taken a lot from us, it’s changed our lives in countless ways, but Laekyn has shown a strength I’ve never known and didn’t know was possible. She has somehow managed to keep a smile on her face, and bring so much joy to those around her, all while fighting for her life. She has been so courageous and resilient throughout this journey, and she is our little hero. It has been equal parts heartbreaking and beautiful fighting alongside her. She has brought her whole family closer to God, and we give Him ALL the glory.

Additional Features

Connor Hicks, one of Fight Night Mizzou’s 2026 college fighters shared why he decided to join Fight Night

Written by True Deck

20 fighters who have been training for eight weeks will take the ring for Fight Night Mizzou’s main event on March 7. For many of the fighters, this is an opportunity to step outside of their comfort zone and participate for something bigger than themselves. But for a few of the fighters, their motivation for participating runs deeper.

Connor Hicks, a freshman competing for the first time, is one of the examples of someone who might be fighting for a different reason. When Connor was in fourth grade, one of his close friends, Keira Stout, was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma at the age of 7. After three years of fighting, she lost her battle. Now, Connor sees an opportunity to fight her cause.

“I transferred in fourth grade, so Keira was one of my first friends,” Connor recalled.

He shared that Keira’s message as she was going through her fight was the importance of random acts of kindness.

“That was her legacy that was left behind,” Connor shared. “You do random acts of kindness because you don’t know what people are going through. And (Keira’s) a perfect example of that.

Keira was in and out of treatment and Connor said a special thing she did was dye her hair different colors before it was removed.

“The joy in her face while she was going through such a hard time, looking back on it, is crazy,” Connor said. “The courage and the strength she showed through it was the only way anyone got through it.”

The strength Keira Stout showed during her three-year battle is the same fuel driving Connor through his final weeks of training. Fight Night Mizzou is more than a display of athleticism, it is a platform for stories like these to be told and for legacies to be honored.