On Rocky Top
FMS cancer survivor gets UT dream weekend
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Taylor Lunn smiles alongside parents John and Shannon Lunn during a visit to Thompson Boling Arena at Food City Center. The Lunn family took in the Vols’ game against LSU as part of a dream weekend organized by “Dream on 3.” - Photos Submitted
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Taylor Lunn receives an autograph from Tennessee guard Nate Ament after the Vols’ win over LSU on Saturday, Feb. 14. - Photos Submitted
On Friday, Feb. 13, Taylor Lunn walked through the main hallway at Farragut Middle School.
Little did the 13-year-old know what awaited her.
Dressed in gray Tennessee-themed sweats, Lunn rounded a corner with her parents and broke into a wide smile.
Some classmates waved orange pom-pons, and others held up signs while “Rocky Top” blared from a nearby speaker.
It was a fitting scene on a fully-packed weekend, which began with the Lunn family walking out of the school and into the bright sunshine. There, a black SUV whisked them off to a whirlwind 72-hour experience, all organized by the nonprofit organization, “Dream on 3.”
Based out of Charlotte, the organization exists to “enrich the lives of kids with life-altering conditions by making their sports dreams come true,” according to the website.
Undergraduate students from the organization’s Tennessee chapter compiled the Lunn family’s festivities, which ranged from a camp with UT cheerleaders to multiple Tennessee basketball games to an Alumni Hall shopping spree. They even had breakfast at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday morning before taking in the Lady Vols’ game against Texas that afternoon.
“It’s pretty cool,” Barb Urch, a senior programmer for “Dream on 3,” said during the visit to FMS on Friday. “There are many different levels to it, and I love the collegiate aspect with students working so hard at building this dream.
“Then seeing it through the family’s eyes and Taylor’s eyes and having everyone come together is amazing. Our biggest thing is wanting people to be seen, valued and loved, and this shows that so there’s nothing better.”
That was certainly the case for Taylor, especially given everything she has endured and everyone she has inspired.
In 2016, at just 3 years old, Lunn was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She went into remission after 30 days but endured 28 grueling months of treatment for more than two years afterward.
“When she was old enough to go to kindergarten, she’d go when she could,” her father, John Lunn, said. “When her immune system was compromised, she would just stay home.”
After the 28-month period passed and her scans came back clean, Taylor — who was 6 years old at that point — began a more typical childhood.
She eventually gave cheerleading a try in elementary school, and all appeared well.
Then came Oct. 23, 2023. Just after her 11th birthday, Taylor began showing some unusual symptoms — prompting her parents to schedule a doctor’s visit.
“When we started feeling like something wasn’t feeling well, her mom and I figured that we needed to take her back to get tested,” John Lunn added. “She got tested on a Monday, and I called the oncologist to see.“
On the other end, the nurse told Taylor’s father that they had an appointment set for her the next day.
“At that point, we knew,” he said. “And we knew it would be very different. It was going to interrupt school and life like it didn’t before.”
She started chemotherapy treatments that same month, eventually winding up in the hospital for five straight weeks at one point. Also, young Taylor had to wear a backpack 24 hours a day so that medication could be infused in preparation for a bone marrow transplant. Every two days, the family would return to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital for her medicine to be changed.
By March 2024, the family relocated temporarily to Nashville in preparation for a bone marrow transplant.
Finally, on St. Patrick’s Day in 2024, Taylor was admitted for her transplant. To this day, the family has no idea who the donor was.
“It was someone really awesome though,” John said.
By the fall of 2025, Taylor was ready to return to FMS for her eighth-grade year.
And she brought the same joy that so many grew used to seeing.
“It’s been an honor,” Farragut Middle School head principal Greg Adams said. “She’s been an inspiration to myself and our teachers and students. To see the joy on her face
every day, being open and transparent with her story and fighting all the adversity and struggles, it’s been a phenomenal journey these last several years.”
As Adams uttered those words, Lunn stood a few feet away, relishing the beginning of a weekend full of joy.
At that point, she had no idea what stood ahead on the schedule. But given what she had already endured, there was only one thought on her mind as she came upon her classmates that Friday.
“I was happy,” she said. “Just so happy.”
