She's tickled pink

GARNER -- Ryan Thomas announced matter-of-factly that she was going to put on a concert for everyone using her brand-new karaoke machine.

"Always going to be an uphill battle, sometimes I'm gonna have to lose," sang Ryan, belting out the lyrics to Miley Cyrus' "The Climb." "The struggles I'm facing, the chances I'm taking...I got to be strong."

Some of the women in her bedroom Sunday afternoon teared up.

Ryan, a 5-year-old battling leukemia, was singing and dancing in her pink room, redecorated with the help of a Cary church group and April's Angels, a nonprofit that helps create fantasy bedrooms for chronically ill children in and near Wake County.

"This is exactly what I wanted," said Ryan, flipping through Hannah Montana-themed folders on her new desk. "And I also love the walls because they are pink, which is my favorite color."

A group of seven women from Crosspoint Church in Cary - and some of their husbands - spent the weekend redoing Ryan's room. Before, the small room was crammed with borrowed furniture such as a queen-sized bed. Ryan never liked to spend time there.

Now, the room has new carpeting, freshly painted walls, a child's bed, a TV, a dresser and a small desk complete with art supplies and pencil sharpener. The group also redecorated Ryan's bathroom.

The church group footed half the bill, and the Kids 'N Community Foundation, a Carolina Hurricanes-sponsored charity, took care of the rest.

Susan Stines, managing director for April's Angels, said the organization doesn't publicize the cost of each project because they don't want families to worry about the cost - or to put a monetary value on the work done.

"We're not Extreme Home Makeover," Stines said. "We do what an extended family would do."

The church group splurged on some items - a foldout bed from Pottery Barn for family who might need to sleep in the room - but saved on others, like the new karaoke machine, $20 from Craigslist.

Because of the economy, Stines said members of April's Angels were worried about how many sick kids they'd get to help this year. Ryan's room is the eighth completed this year, which is more than expected, Stines said. Her room is their 30th since April's Angels started in 2004.

Ryan was diagnosed with cancer when she was 3. Since then, she's undergone chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and was in a coma for a week.

Ryan's doing better now, said Helen McNeill, Ryan's grandmother, 51, who takes care of Ryan in her Garner home.

McNeill works part time at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women and also as a nighttime security guard at The News & Observer offices in Raleigh. McNeill's son and Ryan's father, Rickey Taylor, 25, is a forklift operator who lives separately but visits often.

Ryan had to move from her mother's home in Washington, D.C., after her diagnosis - her mom had just given birth to another child, and taking care of both kids was nearly impossible, McNeill said.

"At first, I didn't know what I was doing," McNeill said. "You never think a child could get sick like that. You think, at worst, that you'll need to give them Tylenol. But never that close to death."

Ryan still takes around 14 medications daily. And because of her weakened immune system, she hasn't been able to socialize with other kids. But that doesn't mean she's not social.

At the room unveiling, Ryan befriended Grace, 10, daughter of Jennifer Maddocks, one of the church volunteers. The pair played dress-up and played a board game together.

"She is a little girl who is filled with such joy," Maddocks said. "She has a contagious personality."

When Ryan came out of her coma and the intensive care unit last year at Duke Medical Center, where she receives all of her treatment, the first thing she wanted to do was parade down the halls in a tutu and crown - which she did, McNeill said.

The family was referred to April's Angels by a social worker at Duke, and the organization got in touch with the church group in return.

"Everything she is, you captured," said McNeill, thanking the group of volunteers. "All we have is moments. When a child is that close to death, you want to give them as much as you can. We want to make every moment as special as we can."

Ryan had to be coaxed to come downstairs for cake Sunday.

"I think I want to stay in my room," she said.