Alana Ashley Little (Lana) age 16 years old. Lana ran into the arms of her mother and Jesus on December 12, 2019 at Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas. She was born October 10, 2003 in, Gretna, Louisiana.

Lana was a beautiful young princess who loved pink, purple and all things sparkly. However, she wasn't your average soft, cuddly little girl. She was filled with a personality that was a cross between a curmudgeon and a crab. She loved to laugh, shop, eat out, shop, eat chocolate, shop and say what she wanted to when she wanted to. One friend described her as a pocket rocket!

She loved country music, anything Disney, unicorns, mermaids and most especially princessess. She wanted to be a Princess Teacher when she grew up. Lana loved nothing more than living in a fantasy land, filled with fairies, light and laughter.

Lana was diagnosed at the age of twenty-three months with a rare, recessive genetic disease called Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T). This eventually took away her ability to walk, eat or perform any of your normal activities of daily living. The warrior in her was able to overcome these changes, and allow her family members and private duty nurses to perform any skill she needed to be done.

However, one thing that never changed was her ability to "call the shots" with a shaky voice that was somewhat gravely, and quite frankly made her requests or comments even funnier for those of us who loved her. Let's just say she had her Daddy, and many of the folks around her wrapped around her little finger.

Lana attended Moore Elementary, and then moved on to Hamilton Middle School. Shortly after the beginning of her sixth grade year, she was moved her to homebound status. Currently, she was enrolled as a tenth grader at Cypress-Creek High School with a homebound teacher.

In her younger years, while restrained due to her physical and medical issues, Lana continued to live life out loud. She testified in Austin, at the Capital for the preservation of Medicaid for the children with disabilities in Texas. She was formally recognized on the Senate floor for her advocacy.

In 2012, she was crowned Little Miss Wheelchair Texas, where she blazed a trail across Texas educating folks about children with disabilities, laughing and doing it her way. She was joined on many of these travels with Mariah Kilbourne, Ms. Wheelchair America and Tina Williams, Ms. Wheelchair Texas.

As time went on, several other diseases were added to her list, and her health began to deteriorate even more.
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In April 2019, her grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, with metastasis to the liver and abdominal wall. Not two weeks later, our precious Lana was diagnosed with Gastric (stomach adencarcenoma) Cancer.Thus began the "chemotherapy shuffle". Lana and her Mom (as she called her) began getting treatment at two different hospital systems in Houston. They were so in tune with each other, that often times they would end up in the hospital within days of each other.

Lana made it through chemotherapy, and then in May of 2019 they removed the diseased stomach, and the Lana that we all knew and loved never came back. At the end, she was placed on full ventilator support, and while we remained hopeful that we would get our beautiful princess back, her lungs were so weak and diseased that she was never able to be removed from the ventilator. At the end, with the ventilator at full support, it became obvious that her time with us was getting short, and we needed to start preparing her and her family to go to Heaven with her mother.

Lana never did anything normal in her life, and her family soon began to understand that normal was simply a setting on the washing machine. They learned how to think outside the box, to be creative, to figure it was easier to ask forgiveness afterwards than to ask for permission in the beginning.

Lana is preceded in death by her mother, Brenna Ashley MacMillen; her maternal great-grandparents, William Marion Hall (Bill) and Sylvia Grace (O'Dell) Hall.

She is survived by her maternal grandparents, Don and Teri (Hall) Little. (She and her brother chose to call them Mom and Dad, because to them, that is who they were). In addition, she is survived by her younger brother, Alexander Little; Aunt Donna Kohler; Uncle Eddy Hall; Uncle Christopher Little; Aunt Elizabeth Casey; , Uncle James Casey; Local cousins include Emily Little, Tyler Kay Hall, Alyson Little and Olivia Rose Casey (aka Bump).

As her great-grandmother was born and raised in Britain, she is also survived by the numerous O'Dell clan in England, Ireland, Australia and Canada. Finally, she is survived by her private duty nurses, teachers, friends and many in our community who loved her.

Burial: Perry Cemetery

Pastor: Jason J. Nelson
Cypress Rosehill United Methodist Church

With much love gratitude, Lana's Honorary Pallbearers will be:

John M. Slopis, M.D. (Lana's Neurologist)
Department of Neuro-Oncology
Division of Cancer Medicine
The University of Texas MD Anderson
Children's Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Heather Moore (Lana's Pediatrician)
Clinic Chief, Complex Care Center
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, Texas

Lorena Noroski, M.D. (Lana's Immunologist)
Associate Director, Fellowship Program
Allergy and Immunology
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, Texas

Niday Varghese, M.D. (Lana's Pulmonologist)
Assistant Director of Pediatrics
Pulmonary Medicine
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, Texas

Mythili Rangan, M.D. (Lana's original Pediatrician)
Pediatrics
Pediatric Health Care of Northwest Houston
Tomball, Texas

As the family has chosen to celebrate her life, rather than mourn her death we ask that bright colors, pink, purple, glittery or with snowflakes be worn at her services.
She loved flowers, but it you'd rather make a real difference in a child's life with Ataxia Telangiectasia please consider donating to:

Wobbly Feet Foundation
http://wobblyfeet0.us/