Former basketball star Lewis fighting cancer
SILOAM SPRINGS — One of the greatest female athletes to ever take the basketball court in Northwest Arkansas is now in a fight for her life.
Former Siloam Springs and University of Arkansas, Fayetteville star India
Lewis was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer last week and is being treated at St.
John Medical Center in
Tulsa.
Lewis’ cancer has spread to her spine and she’s also battling blood clots, her father said.
“It’s pretty severe. It’s in about four to five different places,” Porky Lewis said Wednesday night. “They’ve been trying to get her breathing and all that regulated over here so she can get radiation started as quickly as possible on her brain and on her spine. It all came about real quick.”
Lewis said his daughter had not been feeling well in recent weeks and about two weeks ago went to a medical clinic in Jay, Okla. He said doctors there recommended she take allergy medication.
“She thought it was allergies and bronchitis,” her mother, Carmen Lewis, said.
A week later, India went to the urgent care clinic in Siloam Springs, where she had X-rays.
“That same night, they sent her to St. John,” Porky said.
Doctors indicated her illness is a very complex case, he said.
“To put it in people’s terms, she is like a very advanced Rubik’s Cube,” he said. “When they work on one thing, that will affect another part, and that will affect another part and another part.”
Lewis said his daughter did not have any alarming symptoms prior to the diagnosis.
“She thought she was sore from hitting infield to her little ball team,” Lewis said. “Coughing has been bothering her, but she was thinking that was allergies. She’s always been an athlete so aches and pains have always been a part of her life.”
Lewis was a multiple-sport standout at Siloam Springs in the late 1990s, starring in volleyball, basketball and softball.
She led the Lady Panthers’ basketball team to the Class AAAA state championship in 1999. She was named Miss Basketball by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and also garnered the newspaper’s Female Athlete of the Year award in 1999.
Lewis played at Arkansas under then-coach Gary Blair, where she was a regular contributor and second on the team in scoring her last two years. The Razorbacks reached the NCAA Tournament in three of her four seasons there.
Blair, now the head coach at Texas A&M, has reached out to Lewis since she’s been in the hospital as has Mississippi State Coach Vic Schaefer, a former Arkansas assistant.
“She’s always been a people person,” her father said. “The support and prayers from everybody are almost unbelievable. People coming to visit her — lots of visitors.
“Sports have tied our family to many, many people around the country and around the world.”
Lewis said country music singer Michael Ray sent India a video and dedicated one of his concerts to her.
“She’s got a tremendous amount of support from all walks of life,” he said.
A GoFundMe account has been started for Lewis at https://gofundme.com/india039s-eliminate-cancer-fund. As of late Thursday, nearly $10,000 had been raised.
There also is an India Lewis Contribution Fund at Arvest Bank, started by former Arkansas assistant coach Amber Shirey.
India, along with her mother and sister, Brandi, coach a 9-year-old Siloam Springs Youth All-Star baseball team. The team has been wearing a pink ribbon on their sleeves with #21 on them. Pig Trail Clothing also is selling shirts to benefit Lewis.
A #IndiaStrong21 Fight Cancer Day has been set up in Tahlequah, Okla., on June 27, and a co-ed softball tournament to benefit Lewis will take place July 28 in Tahlequah.