No time for tears

Devin, surrounded by her teammates at a Langham Creek pep rally, cannot practice or dance with the Bailadoras because of her treatment. But that can't dim her flashing smile (Johnny Hanson/Houston Chronicle)

The homecoming queen nominee sat in the back room of a nail salon, one hand soaking in a bowl of soapy water, when the woman sitting across from her asked about her cancer.

The 17-year-old smiled brightly, her head wrapped in a black bandana — the same one she planned to wear with her homecoming dress tonight.

“This is my second time,” Devin Duncan said in a bubbly, cheerful voice that clashed with the salon’s New Age background music.

She said it not to elicit sympathy, but to convey her core approach to battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia — a disease that is threatening her life for a second time.

Positivity, she says, is key.

Read more about this story at www.chron.com.