A first glance at Robyn Speer, a beautiful 16-year-old from Las Vegas, would never convey the image of a cancer patient.

One month ago, she was completely healthy, excitedly making plans for her junior prom. But pangs of fever, clammy, uncontrollably shaking hands and chronic fatigue suddenly struck her.

Surprisingly, she still made it to her prom on Wednesday, even though she was in a hospital over 280 miles away.

The prom, which was held at the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, consisted of family members, friends and hospital staff.

“This was the first time a prom had been planned for a patient,” said Denise Matsuyama Lai, a child development specialist at the UCLA Medical Center.

Plans to bring the prom to the hospital began Friday, after staff members heard about Robyn’s disappointment over missing her junior prom.

The special event was organized by Child Life/Child Development and Social Work, which includes Betty Kim-Liu, Denise Matsuyama Lai and Rachel Hunt. Plans included a manicurist for Robyn, as well as a photographer and a DJ at her special prom.

During the surreal event, “A Black Tie Affair,” Robyn courageously brought herself to her feet and even had the strength to dance to a few songs. She eventually was overcome by fatigue and pain from surgery two days before.

The effects of cancer began last month, but Robyn’s mother, Cynthia Speer, initially encouraged her to continue to go to school.

Cynthia became concerned when her daughter slept for two consecutive days. When Robyn went to the hospital in Nevada on April 14, the doctors identified a mass in her upper abdomen.

Robyn was transferred to the UCLA Medical Center on April 20. Five days later, an irremovable tumor on Robyn’s liver was confirmed during exploratory surgery by Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil, the head of liver transplant in the department of surgery at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.

Robyn’s hospital room is far from barren. Stuffed animals, baskets of candy, bouquets of roses, and most importantly, her family’s presence, create a cheerful atmosphere.

Her parents and siblings are in Los Angeles with her, and she is expecting more visitors to arrive, including great aunts and cousins. Her long-distance boyfriend, DJ Gartland, is by her side to brighten her spirits.

He vividly recounts his initial reaction to the news of his girlfriend’s cancer: “I was crying and was so upset that I threw up.” He describes Robyn as, “the greatest woman in my life.”

He flew in on Wednesday from Colorado courtesy of Angel Flight West, a volunteer organization which assists patients and their families in the western United States with free air transportation services to hospitals.

Other nonprofit organizations have come to Robyn’s aid by helping her cope with the experience, including the Child Life/Child Development and Social Work of the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, which helped make Robyn’s prom possible.

This program intends to address the social, emotional and developmental needs of hospitalized children. Additional services include special-event coordination, such as holiday and birthday parties and toy giveaways during the holiday season.

Robyn’s strength shines through as she calmly describes her experience of dealing with hospitalization, coping with the idea of cancer, and seeing her former roommate, who also had cancer, die right before her eyes.

Robyn had become very close friends with her hospital roommate, and was greatly affected by her death.

“I couldn’t even cry because of the pain that it would cause,” she said.

She cannot laugh or cough either, and for a while, could not eat anything.

Robyn’s experience has brought her family closer together and changed her outlook on pain.

She describes the only imaginable pain worse than what she is experiencing as “ripping off fingernails.”

She has a greater appreciation for life, her family and friends, and even the small things, like coughing, “I cannot cough right now because it hurts so much,” she said.

Despite the overwhelming pain caused by incisions in her stomach muscles and diaphragm, Robyn remains positive and talkative, keeping a smile on her face.

She is recovering from the exploratory procedure and is waiting for another operation when a donor liver is available for transplant.

She finds herself taken aback every time she tells her friends the news, a common occurrence evident by the incessant ringing of the hospital phone.

“Can you imagine saying, ‘Guess what, I have cancer’ to someone? It’s weird,” she said.