It was anything but a “happy” New Years for some people in Fluvanna County in January of 2012 when they learned that Fluvanna native Alyssa Divers had passed away at age 10.  Divers had suffered a long battle with osteosarcoma and a Caring Bridge blog created by her family to share information about her illness and  progress had generated strong support for her and her family in the community.  Now, four years later, many Fluvanna residents still remember her fondly.

“Alyssa Grace Divers was a beautiful soul,” said her mom Lynn Divers, who noted that Alyssa loved reading, dolphins and ballet.  Lynn Divers had been a dance teacher and had inspired Alyssa to love the art of dance and performing in recitals.  She said Alyssa lived a full and busy life during her last year on earth.

Alyssa had a love for all animals, specifically, horses, and rabbits, and lived with three cats that she loved dearly. At a festival at Sojourners Church, Alyssa saw a big white fluffy rabbit from a local farm. She was upset to hear this bunny was a meat rabbit,  and begged her mom to keep the rabbit.  The owner agreed, but her mom had to ask her doctor. When the doctor said she could keep  the rabbit, she was very excited and named her new pet Snowball.

Not letting her lack of a leg stop her, Alyssa also rode horses at Sheridan Stables, a small barn in Kents Store, and learned to how to make her horse walk, trot, and canter.  She once attended a horse show at Speakeasy Farm where she rode in a Western saddle, and as she walked out of the ring she had a first place blue ribbon and a huge smile on her face.  

“Alyssa had a love for horses, but there was one horse named Bunny she said she related to because the horse was skinny, didn’t have much hair, and was white. But what she didn’t know was that Bunny was a beautiful horse, as she was a beautiful girl,” said Cameron Sheridan, the owner of the barn.

Now, almost four years since Alyssa passed away, her family is opening a house in Charlottesville called the Alyssa House which is designed for children being treated for cancer at UVa Medical Center. The house, which has two bathrooms and three bedrooms, will provide an affordable option for families visiting with their child in the hospital. “ The Alyssa House will give a family, like mine, a place to be together while they are dealing with something very scary,” said Lexie Divers.

Alyssa would have been a freshman at FCHS this year, and many of her friends still think of her. “Everytime I hear The Climb [ Referring to the Miley Cyrus song ], it reminds me of her because that was her song,” said Freshman Abby McGrath. “She always had a smile on her face, even though she was going through a hard time in her life,” said Freshman Sarah White.