Taligha Proctor is celebrating her 11th birthday and the end of cancer treatment (submitted photo/Ashley Buck)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Young Tilley girl celebrates birthday and end of cancer treatment

Jan 18, 2021 | 7:00 AM

A little girl from Tilley who has gone through the unthinkable is celebrating a major accomplishment.

Taligha Proctor is celebrating her eleventh birthday and the end of cancer treatment.

“ I finished my chemotherapy treatment which was awesome. I finally get to go back to school to hang out with my friends a little bit, and it’s all been really good this year,” she said.

It was two years ago in 2018 when little Taligha’s life was turned upside down.

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“She started with some lower back pain and her legs started to hurt, and we continuously went back and forth to the doctor and emergency and she was to the point where she couldn’t even walk her back was hurting so bad,” mom Ashley Buck said.

She was initially diagnosed with Scoliosis and eventually referred to children’s hospital in Calgary.

“We had a bunch of blood tests, and they gave her morphine to calm down the pain and they obviously did her blood work and that’s when they noticed her white blood cell count was off, and that’s how she was diagnosed with Leukemia,” her mom said.

Taligha entered treatment right away, and for the then eight-year-old that meant losing her hair and undergoing a number of treatments.

But the community of Tilley stepped up, by holding a number of fundraisers, and offering their support wherever they could. When Taligha started to lose her hair, her family and members of the community hosted a head-shaving party so that Taligha knew that everyone was supporting her.

(submitted photo/Ashley Buck)

She even got to meet her idol, country music star Terri Clark, and thanks to members of the community she got to sing with her while riding the holiday train

“It means a lot,” Proctor said of the community’s support.

“I’m happy. We were definitely blessed,” her mom said.

Now cancer-free and entering a new year of life, Taligha has her mind set on being a regular kid and attending class at Tilley School. She also has this to say to anyone enduring their own battles be it cancer or another illness.

“ Anyone can do anything as long as they put their mind to it,” Proctor said,