#SuperRobbie: Community rallies as Lexington judge chronicles son’s cancer fight.

On July 11, Lexington mom Libby Messer posted on social media that her son Robbie, 8, a competitive swimmer, had dominated the pool all summer, “despite being way under the weather.”

Just nine days later, Messer, a Fayette Family Court Judge, said the summer took a terrifying turn for the ordinarily healthy Robbie and for Messer, her husband Will, son Mac, 11, and daughter Eli, 5.

“This week has NOT been how we expected to end our summer,” Messer posted from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “No parent is ever ready to hear their child’s name and cancer in the same sentence but we are thankful to have had almost immediate access to one of the best pediatric cancer hospitals in the world at Cincinnati Children’s.”

On social media, Messer began to chronicle what she described as the most difficult time of her and her husband’s lives.

She said Robbie, who had been treated for an ear ache and possible migraines this summer, had ultimately been diagnosed with a malignant tumor - called a localized sarcoma tumor — on the base of his tongue. She let family and friends know that a “huge” team of doctors were working around the clock to make sure he was getting the best possible treatment.

From Lexington and elsewhere came prayers and support from family and friends, fellow swimmers and soccer players often posting under the hashtag #SuperRobbie.

“He’s the kind of kid that everybody knows and loves,” Messer said in an interview with the Herald-Leader.

In Family Court in Lexington, Messer said she deals with families who are facing similar challenges with their hospitalized children.

Messer said she and her family have had significant support, with her children’s grandparents helping to care for the other children while she and her husband are at the hospital with Robbie.

“It gives you perspective of families who maybe don’t have quite as much support as us,” she said.

Messer said she has been grateful for the help and responses during uncertain times.

On July 23, after Robbie’s first round of chemotherapy was complete, the treatment caused swelling of the tumor and surrounding tissue.That meant he could no longer breath without assistance.

“He can hear us and responds some so we tell him daily about all the people who are out there pulling for him,” Messer said in a post.

Robbie’s swim team members and their families created a t-shirt, and bracelets to support his fight. A “forest” of get well balloons sprung up in his room.

He was for a time on a ventilator and sedated to protect his airway.

The Messers agreed to a tracheotomy.

“This will allow him to hopefully come off the ventilator and sedation and allow him the freedom to talk, swallow and move without fear of losing his airway while he continues his treatment. All of which is necessary in order for him to leave the ICU,” Messer posted.

Robbie wore a temporary tattoo of the Olympic logo and was awake enough to watch a few of the swimming events on television. But he was having trouble coming out of sedation.

On July 31, the family got the first good news they had heard since his diagnosis 17 days before.

The size and location of the tumor continued to be a major concern. But a pathologist discovered that Robbie’s tumor was made up of a gene mutation that had been shown to be extremely responsive to a new oral drug rather than chemotherapy.

In the first few days of August, Robbie spent much more time awake, binged on replays of some of the Olympic events he missed, spent several hours off his ventilator, and started physical therapy.

He took a few steps and sat in a chair. He was working hard and learning more and more ways to communicate until he could talk again.

Robbie wanted to see the gifts, photos, and cards people were sending him.

He beat his mother in a game called Pop-it Chess “which he cheated to do and then laughed at me when I figured that out,“ she said in a post. “Nice to know that ornery little boy is still in there.”

“Today,” Libby Messer wrote on Aug. 7, “was a pretty good one.”

She explained Robbie was off his ventilator and pranking his doctors and nurses. He was moved from ICU. He got to see his siblings for the first time in more than three weeks.

Last week, Robbie took a long walk during physical therapy. He got to watch a marathon of the cartoon Duck Tales as a reward. He was improved enough to smile and giggle.

This past week, the first day of school was bittersweet.

Messer said was it hard to drive away from the hospital and leave Robbie so she could be with his siblings who are entering kindergarten and middle school and even harder to know he was missing his favorite day of the year, the first day of school. He had been counting the days until he could walk his little sister to school.

By Monday, Robbie still had a tracheotomy, but he could talk.

He still has a feeding tube, but has been given the green light to start trying to eat solid food.

He is no longer attached to most monitors and can walk around.

“Now he is just working on getting stronger and getting to the point where they are comfortable for him to come home and continue to receive his treatment,” Messer said. The family is hoping that that might happen by the weekend.

“He’s improved exponentially each day,” she said.

The Messers --and their other two children when they can visit -- have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati.

“We’ve still got a lot of challenges ahead,” Messer said Monday. “ There’s a lot of unknown. We know we are getting the best possible care. We’re really grateful for the community we have.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 6:00 AM.