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Round Rock HS student diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer fights with her faith

Rylie York, a Round Rock High School senior, is getting support from all over the community with the hashtag #TeamRylie while she battles her Stage 4 Lymphoma diagnosis.

Inside Georgetown First Baptist, Rylie York’s voice is strong and beautiful, much like Rylie herself.

She spent her Wednesday night at the church for youth group worship practice, singing one last time before the next round of treatments begin.

Rylie was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma only a month ago.

"I know everything's gonna work out,” said Rylie, who told WTSP's sister station, KVUE it was important to sing again because “it's my favorite way to worship and praise God through music."

Rylie, a Round Rock High School senior, is getting support from all over the community with the hashtag #TeamRylie. Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody recently tweeted out his support as well.

It all started back in August, when Rylie noticed something was wrong with her stomach.

"I was having some abdominal pains and didn't know why. I likened it to the stress of senior year,” she explained.

Rylie is a leader at her high school. She’s on the swim team, choir and leads a service organization at Round Rock HS. She was also applying for colleges and worried about normal high school things like grades and homecoming court.

It wasn’t until the end of December and beginning of January when Rylie noticed her lymph nodes were swollen. After a round of antibiotics, they weren’t getting better, either.

So, doctors did surgery to remove the lumps in her nodes and did a biopsy.

The diagnosis: Stage 4B Hodgkins Lymphoma.

“I first thought, why is this something like this happening in the middle of my senior year when everything was going fine at that point?” sobbed Rylie.

But after the initial shock, Rylie said she decided to learn as much as she could about her diagnosis and fight with everything she has with the help of doctors, her family -- and most of all, her faith.

"The night that I was diagnosed, I decided I had no other option than to trust God and everything that He was doing,” said Rylie.

Rylie has already undergone her first of five chemotherapy treatments. She said the hardest part so far has been losing her hair, which she plans to shave soon.

She’s also started a blog to share her story and progress with the community.

Rylie will finish treatment in July and plans to attend Baylor in August, where she's already been accepted.

She plans to continue serving her community and spreading her message of faith.

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