PENDLETON — It’s not quite the way she imagined her senior year would go, but all’s well that ends well, Grace Lowhorn said.

Lowhorn, a senior at Pendleton Heights High School, was in a good mood, chilling out after school, getting ready to practice with the Arabians softball team as they prepped for the sectional championship game.

For Lowhorn, 18, a first-baseman, it’s been a hard year. She wasn’t able to play as much for the Arabians as she had planned after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer mid-way through her senior year.

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Still, she’s pushed hard through two surgeries and radiation to get back on the field and end her high school career playing a game she loves — one she’s been a part of since she was 5.

Lowhorn missed most of the preseason workouts and several games while dealing with the cancer but was thrilled to be able to finish her senior year back on the bench, supporting her teammates, who have supported her through the illness.

“That’s been the biggest thing,” Lowhorn said. “I’ve realized just how much support I have, and it’s really been great to have so many people by my side.”

Her family — parents Heather and Anthony Lowhorn and brother Owen Lowhorn, a freshman at Pendleton Heights — and her close friends and teammates have banded together to help pull Lowhorn through.

“You know your kid is a good kid, but then you see them go through something like this — it’s just kind of amazing to see how strong she really is,” her mother said.

When Lowhorn first became sick, her softball teammates made T-shirts and a sign with “Our amazing Grace” to show support.

Coach Rob Davis and teammates know battling and beating cancer is far more important than softball, he said.

“She’s an inspiration to this team,” Davis said. “Just the way she’s come back from this has been phenomenal.”

FACING THE UNEXPECTED

Lowhorn is always smiling, pushing herself, her mother said, even when she had to go into isolation for 10 days because of radiation treatments.

The cancer diagnosis was a complete surprise, Lowhorn said. She was cruising along, enjoying her final year of high school, when she started having trouble talking and swallowing.

After several tests, doctors determined she had cancer and had to remove her thyroid along with lymph nodes and a vocal cord.

She finished a big part of the treatment about six weeks ago, and while Lowhorn gets tired now and then, she was able to go away for spring break, attend prom and is on the road to recovery.

“Right now, it’s just kind of a waiting game to see,” she said.

Doctors are monitoring and evaluating the treatments and will determine if more radiation will be needed.

If so, she’ll deal with the results, which could mean taking more radiation pills, but she’s optimistic, she said.

In addition to working hard to get back on the field, Lowhorn has maintained good grades.

While she calls herself an average student, Lowhorn has earned a full-ride scholarship to Indiana University through the Cox Exploratory Scholarship.

The program provides assistance to Indiana residents who are incoming freshmen, academically strong, have a financial need and have a desire to help educate and mentor their peers, according to the Indiana University website.

Lowhorn will work eight to 10 hours per week, in addition to being a full-time college student, as an Indiana University peer coach on the Bloomington campus.

While she hasn’t decided on a major yet, Lowhorn said she is interested in business and law.

Regardless of her career path, Lowhorn said she will be prepared to tackle it, noting how the cancer has taught her about remaining positive and pushing through.

“You might as well have a good outlook,” she said.

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Graduation: 2 p.m. Sunday, June 3, in the Pendleton Heights High School main gym.

Valedictorian: Kate Cowger

Salutatorian: Andrew Jamison

Class president: Jessica MacMillan

Class motto: Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

Class flower: White Rose

Class colors: Caribbean Blue and Gold

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