Welcome
Together we can take a strike against childhood cancer
Giving back through the game we love.
meet this year's Team Maddie heroes
Emmi Ruth
Emmi Ruth
Emmi Ruth
Meet beautiful Emmi Ruth. Three years ago, a routine pediatric visit turned into an incredibly difficult discovery. What was first thought to be an enlarged spleen turned out to be a large, cancerous tumor. Emmi had to go through 6 rounds of chemotherapy in the hopes of shrinking the tumor. Unfortunately, the tumor did not shrink and has slowly been growing over the last year and a half, impacting some of her major organs and creating very high blood pressure. Emmi underwent surgery last month which involved biopsying 3 “hot spots” that were found on her PET scans. She and her family are currently awaiting the results.
God tells us in Jeremiah that “Before he formed us in the womb, He knew us.” He knew Emmi before she existed and He knew you too. It is always hard to comprehend the suffering on this Earth, especially the suffering of innocent children. We will never understand it in this lifetime. But in the latter part of that verse He says “He has appointed us as a prophet to the nations.” God uses even the tiniest among us to minister to and encourage others. Emmi and her family’s love for Christ certainly is not tiny, and is evident in every step of this journey, and they are not giving up hope.
Seven year old Emmi Ruth contains multitudes. She loves getting her nails done and trips to Sephora and Ulta, but she loves hunting and fishing and riding bikes with her big brother, Si, too. She likes gymnastics and plays softball, and loves to draw and do puzzles. She is a fighter with a joyful spirit and a believer that “God will work it out.”
Willow
Emmi Ruth
Emmi Ruth
At just two months old, Willow began battling what doctors first thought was eczema. But after months of painful rashes, biopsies, and unanswered questions, her family got the devastating news: Willow had Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis, or LCH, a rare disease that causes immune cells to attack the body.
By seven months, she was undergoing chemotherapy. Over the next four years, Willow faced multiple relapses, bone lesions, surgeries, and treatments so intense they lasted five days a week for months at a time. She rang the victory bell twice, and for nearly three years, her scans showed no new disease.
Until now.
Willow’s family recently learned the cancer in her brain is growing again. She just started another round of chemo, and while the treatment is already taking a toll, Willow is meeting it head-on, like she always does: hands on her hips, ready for anything.
