- April 23, 2024
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When John Koller cut strands of hair off his daughter Toniann Musselman before shaving it off completely, he felt overwhelming grief.
“The hard things that you would think would be hard aren’t as hard as you would think they would be,” he said. “But cutting her hair, which doesn’t seem to be any big deal, was devastating.”
Best known as Toni, the 15-year-old sophomore at Flagler Palm Coast High School was diagnosed almost two months ago with multi-cell leukemia — both T-cell and acute myeloid leukemia. She is currently being treated at Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville.
Nicole Koller, Toni’s mother, has been at the hospital with Toni through the whole process, and John Koller has had to make trips back and forth from Palm Coast to Jacksonville to take care of his other two children and their dog.
John Koller said Toni’s hair started falling out a few weeks ago, and they finally made the painful decision to shave it off.
“The last week has been so hard because her counts have dropped down to zero, so for the last seven days she’s been running high fevers and no immune system,” John Koller said.
He said that Toni has been through about 10 surgeries so far.
“She’s been through a lot,” he said. “Last week when she had the high fevers, I had to lay in bed and hold her until she stops shaking because she’ll shake for an hour at a time.”
John Koller said on that Monday, March 12, they finally got good news. Toni was able to come home for a few days before returning for more treatment.
“It’s one day at a time,” he said. “And we have our good days like today when we get to go home.”
Before the diagnosis, Toni was active in the FPC Marching Band. She loves playing the trumpet, John Koller said.
“It’s a giant thing for her,” he said about her involvement in band. “That’s all she lives for.”
Toni’s initial treatment is expected to take about six months. Then, she will continue treatment and follow-ups over the next two years. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help relieve some of the financial stress for the family at gofundme.com/team-toni-tough.
“The support’s been great. It really has been,” John Koller said. “We really haven’t had a whole lot to worry about other than taking care of Toni right now, but it’s the gas, the food, everything — it’s expensive. I just thank God that we have so many people behind us to let us take care of our daughter.”
