Marley Franklin, seven years old at the time, underwent a bone marrow transplant on October 4, 2011 to heal the sickle cell anemia that would give her such excruciating headaches that her dad, Jamar, would wake up in the middle of the night to her screams. Luckily, her little sister, Maya, was a 98 percent match it was found when she was born and the transplant took hold. The rehab was excruciating, though, as Marley had to go chemotherapy to essentially kill her own immune system to allow the transplant to take. Little by little Marley kept progressing, kept fighting, and she’s now 100 percent cured thanks to a family’s love, a courage that never wavered, and a game that won her heart.
The love with the game started as simply a way to get her out of the house as she recovered from the bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy in 2012. Jamar wanted to find something that she could be outdoors doing so he took Marley to a local youth golf clinic. Now three and a half years after a bone marrow transplant that caused her to have two seizures during her first regimen, Marley is not only cured and thriving, but she’s addicted to the game that helped her recovery.
“Well, golf is very important to me. I love how it just makes me feel,” Marley said. “I play almost like every day. It’s like an everyday thing for me.”
She’s quite good, too. Marley, a lefty, was recently ranked the 55th best girls golfer in the country for her age. As for her favorite player, well, that’s easy: Stacy Lewis. Lewis has her own story of fighting back from scoliosis and corrective surgery to be able to play the game she loves, and the two bonded immediately when they met on the CBS daytime show The Doctors in October.
“I was shocked. It was cool. I said, ‘Mom, she’s talking to me. And then after she brought up the bag, I almost started crying,” Marley said.
Lewis didn’t end their initial meeting with a golf bag. She sent her golf clothes, accessories, and invited her out this week to the Kia Classic where Marley and her family have spent the week with Lewis as her special guests.
“I just know we both love the game and we both enjoy it a lot, and we just kind of like connect,” Marley said.
It’s been a whirlwind few days for Marley. She walked with Lewis during the practice round Tuesday and she was Lewis’ special guest at the Pro-Am party on Tuesday. And Marley got to show off her own game with the sticks, too, playing in the Pro-Am on Wednesday in which her team finished in a tie for first.
“That’s no surprise,” Lewis said.
Following the Pro-Am, Marley then joined Lewis on the press conference stage – a place Lewis envisions Marley being able to potentially return to one day as an LPGA Tour player if she continues at it.
“Well, after two years, I can tell you she is right on her way,” Lewis said. “Great golf swing. Swings on the other side of the plate, which is always good. We always need some lefties out here on Tour, so I think if she keeps on the track that she’s going, I think she’ll be up here doing these interviews every single week.”
Added LPGA Chief Communications Officer Kraig Kann who joined Marley in her Pro-Am group: “She’s inspiring to watch on the golf course with a personality that’s infectious and a golf swing that I’d actually like to have. Her past is what people would probably want to talk about, but I spent five hours with her and all I can think about is what a great future she has.”
A future free of sickle cell anemia and one that’s sure to include golf as she’s now got four-year-old Maya playing.
“She watched me,” Marley said of Maya. “Sometimes she’ll mimic me putt, and she’ll be like, ‘I made it! I’m going to beat sissy one day.’”
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