Tweet

This year the Bellwood-Antis Community has done everything in their power to make every moment sparkle for one Bellwood girl, Maddie Shura. You may have thought that the festivities would end once the school year began. But instead the month of September lead the support for Maddie into a crescendo

Maddie Shura is a student at Myers Elementary who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Giloma (DIPG) earlier this year, and unless you’re not a part of the Miracles for Maddison community on Facebook, you’d never know. Maddie’s happy character radiates through her constant smile.

Maddie has had quite an eventful summer. It was kicked off with the wedding of her favorite teacher Ms. Christine Probst, and BA high school favorite, Brent Hughes. Her summer only got better from there. The community put together multiple benefits for the Shura family. This includes a Wiffleball Tournament, Splash Hop at the Bellwood Community Pool, and her very own Prom of which she was crowned the queen, and rightfully so.

The Make a Wish Foundation even reached out to the Shura family, building a pink play castle fit for the royalty Miss Maddison truly is.

It is widely known that the song “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten is Maddie’s anthem. “She loved the song before the diagnosis” said her mother on a twitter post. Getting to meet Rachel Platten had to be the icing on Maddie’s cake.

The Shura family made the commute to Children’s Hospital daily for Maddie’s morning treatment, then came back for the night life to try to keep Maddie’s summer as normal as possible. Maddie’s summer was nothing short of extraordinary.

Maddie’s aunt, Chrissy Shura said “Knowing that so many people thinking and praying for Maddie and the family makes everything a little easier. Having all this support helps keep our outlook positive. We couldn’t be more thankful and blessed to be from Bellwood and a part of this community.”

Maddie spent the last part of August and into September in Cincinnati for treatment in efforts to not only keep the cancer from spreading, but to deplete it. Maddie returned to school just last week, and she had the support of her classmates. This Friday’s game is dedicated to Maddie and kids like her battling cancer. You can purchase a gold ribbon this week at school or at the game Friday night to show your support of families dealing with childhood cancer the entire month of September.

Senior Alexis Kensinger, Maddie’s cheerleading coach, calls Maddie “inspirational.”She went on to say that they became so close because of cheerleading.

“Every time we see each other we have so many laughs,” Alexis said.

It is said that one has never seen true strength until you’ve seen a child battle cancer, and Maddie Shura is no exception to the rule. “She is an amazing little girl who takes everything in stride,” said Chrissy.