Medina County girl battling cancer becomes fire chief for a day

MEDINA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – On a sunny day in August, Lafayette Township in Medina County got a new temporary fire chief.

This is Lexi Cerio, or Chief Lexi for short, and she likes to be in charge. The first order of business was getting her official chief shirt and badge.

Like most 10-year-olds, Lexi likes a lot of different thing, including Taylor Swift. She enjoys dressing up like a popstar and performing her own original songs.

“‘No brothers.’ It’s about me not wanting my brothers,” Lexi said. “Especially that one and that one over there in the red.” But she added that they still have a good time playing together.

Lexi’s dad says she is also one tough cookie.

“She had a fight of chemo and radiation for about nine months and went into remission and after about 18 months, it came back” Brian Cerio said.

The cancer came back and so did new treatments, but through it all, Lexi’s high spirits and love for fun has never wavered.

Also, firefighters have some cool toys to play with. Firefighters also need to be bossed around and as the oldest girl in her family, she’s used to doing that.

However, the firefighters don’t mind it all. In fact, everyone in the community is cheering for Lexi and the road that the cancer has made her travel.

The whole area is behind this little girl whose battle is so courageous and that kind of support means so much to her family.

“We have a whole group of people behind us. Our church, Saint Francis Xavier, has been so supportive giving us meals we need or providing us babysitters. We couldn’t do this on our own,” Brian said.

Lexi has more adventures ahead with more smiles and more bossing folks around. Cancer can never dim such a bright sprit, and Lexi says being the boss is pretty cool.

“I get to be in charge,” Lexi said.

After the fire department visit, Lexi got to visit the Medina County Dispatch Center, got to have lunch with the crew and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Medina County Fair.

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