Easter Sunday was a sad one for one community in Louisiana as Loretta “Lela” Girouard, the mother of Janie Girourard who we’ve profiled several times as part of the heart-warming “Janie’s Inning” series, passed away early yesterday morning after a battle with cancer.

Her husband, Jason, simply put on the “Love for Lela” Facebook page, “It’s over.”

As detailed on the webpage for radio station 973 The Dawg out of Lafayette, La., Lela was only 41 years old and had battled breast cancer for two years.

The article explains: “She made local and national headlines a couple of weeks ago when she courageously got up out of her wheelchair to walk the last few feet of the Race for the Cure here in Lafayette.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Girouard family… if you go to the site above there is a place to make donations for the girls and their education.

— Brentt Eads, Full Count Softball

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Few stories that we’ve covered in softball have touched and inspired so many like the one of Janie Girourard from Louisiana.

If you’ve followed us for a while, you know all about this teenage ball of energy and how she has uplighted her school and community. If not, you’re going to meet someone very special!

As we looked back at the top stories of 2014, “Janie’s Inning” came in as our No. 2 of the year… you can read all about it by clicking here (all the features and updates we did on her prior to this one are in this article).

Here’s part of the background on Janie and her amazing story pulled from the “Story of the Year” recap:

Janie Girouard has Down’s Syndrome and is the Team Manager for the two-time defending state champion St. Thomas More (Lafayette, La.) Cougars and is the star of the team and maybe the entire city. You see, Janie scores the winning run of every Cougar home game and, increasingly, she is the last to touch the plate at away games too.

In an amazingly great display of sportsmanship in a world devoid of it, Janie gets to have an at-bat in what’s known as “Janie’s Inning,” where she gets a hit, circles the bases, scores the “winning run,” and is celebrated as the hero.

Says her father, Jason, “It’s everything to her, it’s the single most satisfying part of her life… it gives her confidence and she feels accepted and that confidence spills out in her personal life as well.”

What’s great is Janie gets to be a player, not just a bat girl, and rival teams and even entire communities benefit. Opposing players and coaches are eager to take part because it teaches service, goodwill, helping others and putting priorities in order. It makes everyone involved feel good, because it’s making a young girl feel like a super star while being, simply, a regular athlete.

While that certainly brings a “smile to the heart,” there’s a bittersweet component too. Janie’s mother, Loretta, who is also called “Lela,” has advanced breast cancer and it’s not looking good. We ask for your thoughts and prayers for her as she and her family face this difficult situation.

Also, there’s a Go Fund Me account for Loretta, where you’ll see a beautiful photo of the family and a great description of who they are and what they’re facing. We encourage you, as a member of this wonderful softball community, to make a donation in support of the family if your finances allow it.

In the video you’ll see below, Janie models her Sweet Sixteen dress to the softball and cheerleader teams she participates with, but more importantly to her mother, her father Jason and her 12-year-old sister Maddie (who comes and joins her parents on the couch during the clip).

Call this a “Sweet Sixteen” dress rehearsal, which includes Janie’s “Prince” for the dance, sophomore Andrew Ferguson (by way of background, the Sweet Sixteen is a pretty big deal with a dress rehearsal and rules on what style of dress is allowed, etc.).

Because of Loretta’s declining health, one parent writes, “No one knows if Loretta will be well enough to attend the festivities next month. She couldn’t even get out of bed to go to Ash Wednesday Mass this week. Doing this dress rehearsal allowed her to see Janie in all of her glory and it also allowed the JV cheerleaders, softball players, and everyone else involved with Janie at school to see her all dolled up!”

Kudos to all those who have made this a special occasion for the family: the JV cheerleader moms took care of buying the dress, shoes, tiara and other accessories and the mother of another student did Janie’s hair and make-up.

Janie’s father, Jason, posted on the Facebook site “Love for Lela” the following:

“With Janie’s Mom fighting to keep her strength up, and unable to shop for a dress for Janie’s STM Sweet 16 dance, some very special families, staff, coaches, and classmates, stepped up and handled everything (hair, nails, dress, alterations, even a prince) for us to confirm that without a doubt that she is more than accepted… She is LOVED!”

As we look back on our lives, we see how God has brought us crosses that needed carrying and that if we obey that things can and will be ok. In our toughest battle as we carry our heaviest cross, we only hope that God will once again show our family grace and mercy as we continue our support and LOVE for LELA!”