‘They’re so strong.’ Leukemia took her mom. Eagle basketball went orange in her honor
The Eagle and Mountain View girls basketball teams played with orange bows in their hair. Orange shirts were dotted throughout the stands. And every Mustang player had swapped out their usual shoelaces for orange ones.
The support for Eagle’s Leukemia Awareness Night, represented by the color orange, was evident. But there was still one thing missing.
“It’s sad at some points, because I look up at the stands and she’s not there,” Eagle junior guard Audrey Baxter said. “But at the same time, it’s kind of like, let’s play this game for her. Let’s get out there and work as hard as I can, because I know she’d be proud.”
It has been a devastating past 10 months for the Baxter family, and the Eagle High community has rallied in their support.
Karen Baxter, Audrey’s mom, died of acute myeloid leukemia on March 30, 2024. Karen first felt sick on a Sunday night and was gone in less than a week. AML is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
She was just 46 years old.
“They’ve just handled it so well. It was so impressive,” Eagle coach Jeremy Munroe said. “With how sudden it was, I don’t know a lot of people that would be able to handle it with the grace that they did. Faith is a big part of who they are and what they do, and they put a lot of faith in God and what they were doing.”
Karen is survived by her husband, Ryan, and their children Trevan, Kaden, Kyla, Audrey, Milayna and Tage. Both Audrey and her older sister Kyla have been part of the Eagle basketball program. Kyla graduated last year.
Players from freshmen to varsity knew Karen well. The Baxters often hosted team dinners, and Karen loved to help the girls with anything she could, whether it was braiding hair before a game or offering an encouraging word from the stands.
“I feel like she was like my comfort mom on the team. Obviously, besides my own mom,” said Eagle senior Charlotte White, who is Audrey’s second cousin. “I was even thinking about this last night. There was one game at Kuna, and we all wanted to do Dutch braids, so it was like all hands on deck. And I just remember her braiding all of our hair.
“She was always just so happy to do it, and she’s the best braider I know. She was always down to help.”
As anyone who has lost a loved one knows, grief isn’t linear. Audrey has her good and bad days. Sometimes basketball is a comfort; other days it can be triggering.
“I didn’t go to school much after she passed, like I’d go once a month if I had a big project that needed to be done, but it was hard for me to be in a social setting because I just didn’t know what to say to people. And I don’t think people knew what to say to me,” Audrey said.
“I’m a very social person. I love to talk to people. I love to go out and hang out and stuff. But for me, it was kind of like I didn’t know exactly how to put myself in public anymore.
“But with basketball I think I started a foundation my freshman year with these girls that they’re like my home. And so it was actually really nice to go to basketball and kind of like get away.”
Friends and family stopped Audrey many times Thursday night to offer a hug. Whether it was before the game, a halftime hug from a ball boy, or the embrace of a teammate who understood the significance of the night for her and her family.
A few days before the team’s Leukemia Awareness Night, Audrey posted a video to Instagram introducing her mom and encouraging fans to come support the cause Thursday night.
“I think it’s just more about getting everyone here and realizing what’s going on,” Eagle sophomore Isabelle Elitharp said. “It’s getting people here to help, even if they don’t donate, it’s just nice to know that people are here to support.”
As she cheered for teammates during their game against the Mavericks, Audrey was the first to jump off the bench and offer a high-five. Her smile is one of the first things people notice about Audrey, and it looks exactly like her mother’s.
“They’re so strong,” White said. “I don’t know. I probably wouldn’t be able to step on that court again, so I’m just really proud of them and where they are.”
