NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An 8-year-old girl who is battling leukemia is also in a battle over her school absences.

Video: Young Leukemia Patient Battles Disease, School Absences

Due to Cody Combs’ chemotherapy schedule, her mother, Victoria Combs, has kept her home from Mount View Elementary several times with stomach aches that are hard to describe.

"Lightning mixed up with baseball. It sort of hurts really bad," Cody said.

Diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, Cody’s cancer hasn't completely gone away, but absence is what the family is fighting now, and it has gotten to the point where her mother could soon end up in court.

"She comes first. Her education must follow, I understand, but her health comes first," Combs said.

Combs writes excuses for Cody, but earlier this year it was decided that only a doctor's note could excuse absences, but sometimes a doctor’s visit isn’t warranted.

"I'm not going to send her while she's hurting. She won’t be any good to her work," Combs said.

In the fall, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital gave the school a letter explaining Cody's illness, and on March 26, Combs is due in an attendance hearing.

State law requires that schools send a letter when so many days are missed, but the Combses may end up in a legal battle if they don't show at the hearing, and they don't plan on it.

"I will be at the hospital. I will be preparing for my daughter's operation," she said.

Cody has to have fluid drained from her brain as a result of her chemotherapy. The procedure is set for the same day as the hearing.

She's having a rough time now, but she has big plans for the future.

"I want to be a cook, a lawyer and a nurse," she said.

And her mother just asks for understanding.

"I don't want sympathy from them. I want just a little empathy from them," Combs said.

Due to privacy laws, neither the school nor the school district could comment on the situation, but a school representative said the school is working very hard with Cody's parents to deal with the issue.

School officials said they want to keep working with Cody's family and are willing to reschedule the hearing due to her operation. The school has helped Cody's parents come up with a plan to ensure her education continues at home when she's too sick for school.