2026 August - Emerald Coast Woman Magazine - Magazine - Page 24
By: 吀栀eresa Felton
H
ow do you turn one of the darkest challenges
that a mother can face into an inspiration?
Frances Fulcher has done exactly that – through
words and actions and now, a children’s book.
It’s been nearly eight years since her daughter,
Grace Bernice Fulcher, lost her three-year battle
with brain cancer. In a story that no mother
should have to tell, Fran – as Frances is known
to family and friends – openly and lovingly
shares Grace’s story. First, however, she speaks
of Grace’s spirit. Determined, smart, and always
a go-getter. Grace loved to participate in any
activity she could and was the literal de昀椀nition
of “well-rounded” as a result. Flag football,
second violinist in the Sinfonia Youth Orchestra,
Key Club, and three years in the National Honor
Society were just a few of her activities. She
dreamed of a career in medicine, volunteering
at local hospitals and shadowing doctors at Eglin
Air Force Base Hospital during her summers.
Grace graduated Summa Cum Laude from
Niceville High School in May of 2017 with a 4.4
GPA, accomplishing all this while undergoing
radiation long distance at UAB in Birmingham,
AL and chemotherapy treatments locally at
Sacred Heart Pensacola.
It started with eye issues. Despite exercises
to strengthen them, Grace still struggled to
see the board at school. An adventurous child
from a military family, she had just returned
from a trip to London to see a friend when
Fran noticed a subtle shift in her daughter’s
24 | Amazing Grace: Frances Fulcher • Emerald Coast Woman
eye. An ophthalmologist found a tumor behind
it, and what followed was a swift, disorienting
cascade: a CT scan, a trip to the ER at Sacred
Heart Pensacola, a suspicion of MS, and
昀椀nally a transfer to UAB Children’s Hospital
in Birmingham for a biopsy. There, the family
got its answer – anaplastic astrocytoma, an
extremely rare and terminal brain cancer.
