Ozark girl with leukemia gets help from community

OZARK - Belinda Hughes could handle dealing with her 10-year-old daughter Miranda when she fell and hurt her back during school this spring.

The more difficult struggle came when the family found out Miranda’s fall was no small injury. Hughes went from telling her daughter everything would be OK to trying to answer Miranda when she asked why someone was punishing her.

She had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells that can take two to five years to even go into remission, Hughes said.

“You can’t answer that question, ‘why is someone punishing her?’ I just couldn’t,” Hughes said as she looked at her daughter Monday. “But I tell her now that nobody’s punishing her. She’s a smart little girl who’s going to college one day. She’s my only child, my miracle baby, and she’s gonna make it through this.”

More people - some the Hughes family have never met - have rallied around the family through Helping Hands to help with Miranda’s traveling expenses to and from Childrens Hospital in Birmingham. Ethel Clements of Helping Hands handed the family $4,000 on Monday after a weekend event hosted by Colby’s Restaurant and Kelley Foods from Elba, where Ozark Mayor Billy Blackwell and other city and council officials participated.

Monday, the group held a small raffle.

Helping Hands was formed three years ago when Clements and other hospice volunteers wanted to do more for the community, she said.

Clements joined with other hospice volunteers, like Lynn Ross, to participate in different programs. The ministry has spanned from fundraisers for those in need to visits to local hospitals and nursing homes.

Clements said her work through helping others led her to the Hughes at Dallas Office Supply.

“I was doing work for the chamber (of Commerce in Ozark) and came over here to get some things. I ran into Adam, Miranda’s dad, and learned of her story and the Lord just told me I was supposed to help her,” Clements said.

“A lot of times I get blessed more than the people we think we’re helping. I styled the hair of a 90-year-old woman for her birthday and the wisdom she gave me,
it was more blessing than I could have ever given.”

Clements said her group also helps people through prayer. Miranda is on a 24-hour prayer chain at Clements’ church, Ridgecrest Baptist.

Prayers alone would have been enough for the family, said Miranda’s dad, Adam Hughes.

But the outpouring from a community the Hughes’ barely know has been more than overwhelming.

“We’ve not lived here five years I think. No matter where we were, we always gave to St. Jude and others, but never expected it for ourselves. It’s amazing how people here have been so giving, even at the store,” he said.

His wife agreed.

“My mom would always say you are ‘where you’re supposed to be, when you need to be.’ I think we are,” she said.

Miranda, who plans to go to college to study marine biology, Egyptian culture, and medical research, said she is grateful for the assistance and wants to help
others.

“I want to do research so other kids won’t have to go through this,” she said.

How to help
Army Aviation in care of Miranda Hughes
(334) 774-4929

Helping Hands
(334) 774-5295