Courtney A. Hennessy was a first-grader and budding ballerina when doctors found a tumor on her brain stem in November 1997.

        They said it was inoperable and that the Green Township girl would probably live for three months.

        Her parents found alternative treatment in Houston; and countless people, including a man who rode from California to Cincinnati on a unicycle, helped raise money to pay for it.

        Those efforts bought four more years of life for Courtney.

        “She was just like anybody else, running, playing, roughhousing. She just seemed normal,” said her aunt, Cyndi Hennessy of White Oak. “She has a little brother and they fought. Everything was just going great.”

        But in September, Courtney's condition worsened and she fell into a coma. The 11-year-old Green Township girl died Tuesday at Children's Hospital Medical Center.

        Courtney was a well-liked and bright student at Springmyer Memorial Elementary when her parents noticed that she was having trouble with her balance and couldn't pick up heavy objects.

        They thought she had an ear infection — something that had plagued her in the past.

        After the tumor was discovered, she underwent radiation, chemotherapy and steroid treatments that made her body swell until she couldn't fit into her clothes. But the treatments were largely uneffective in shrinking the tumor.

        “They told my brother to contact hospice care,” her aunt said.

        Then her parents heard about Dr. Henry Friedman, a Duke University cancer specialist who was conducting experiments with a nontoxic, tumor-shrinking drug. Because it was considered an alternative treatment, the Hennessy's insurance company wouldn't pay the $7,200 a month it would cost to treat their daughter.

        That's when a host of friends and strangers began a series of fund-raisers to help send Courtney to Houston.

        There were dinners and dances and festivals. There were raffles of items donated by more than 300 organizations, including the Buddy LaRosa family and the Kansas City Royals.

        Then there was Phil Dalton, the 24-year-old magician from Forest Park who rode a unicycle from Los Angeles to Cincinnati last fall to get donations for Courtney. He did it in part because his brother, Mark, had died of a similar tumor the year before.

        The price tag on Courtney's treatment ultimately reached more than $200,000 — all of it raised by her supporters and sponsors.

        Last summer, an MRI revealed that the tumor was coming back. Seven weeks later, Courtney was in a coma.

        During her extra four years, she got to visit Disney World and Dollywood.

        Her family is grateful for that.

        Other survivors include her parents, Angie and Jeff Hennessy; a brother, Tyler; grandparents Betty and Patrick Hennessy Sr. of Green Township; and grandmother Muriel Ridner of Colerain Township.

        Visitation is 5-9 todayat Jon Deitloff Funeral Centre, 4389 Spring Grove Ave. The funeral is 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Interment is at Spring Grove Cemetery.

        Memorials: Make a Wish Foundation, 4770 Duke Drive, Mason 45040; or Ruth Lyons Children's Fund, P.O. Box 59, Cincinnati 45201.

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