DRAPER – To look at or interact with Maryn Cella, 4, you wouldn’t know she has cancer. She has been able to run and play throughout her treatments, said her mother, Annette Cella. “She is doing amazingly well. She truly is a miracle and I am thankful to God everyday for the gift that I have of being with her and that she is not suffering.”
To help Annette Cella with expenses, Mary Schroeer has organized a kickball fundraiser that will be held Sunday, Oct. 10 in the Draper City Park South Pavilion and Ball Park. The suggested donation is $5 per person.
Cella, a member of St. John the Baptist Parish, is praying for a miracle and said the family needs all of the prayers and help they can get right now. Maryn, who will turn 5 on Oct. 20, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2009, when she was 3.
“We were told it was inoperable and terminal, that she had nine to 12 months to live and we should enjoy our time with her,” said Cella. “I did a lot of research and found a doctor in Texas that does alternative treatments, so we had a fundraiser and I was able to take my daughter there and start the treatments and we came back in December and she has been on the medication ever since. We’ve had some shrinkage of the tumor and the fact that she has now survived 17 months is a miracle in itself.”
Maryn’s treatments were denied by the insurance because they are experimental and Maryn has lived past the nine months she was expected to live. The product provider is giving a discount, but it is still a substantial out-of-pocket monthly expense.
Cella is a single mother with two older daughters in 5th grade at Saint John the Baptist Middle School and 9th grade at Juan Diego Catholic High School.
Schroeer met Cella when their 5th-grade children became friends. “I found out about Maryn, and decided I wanted to help,” said Schroeer. “There was another kickball fundraiser in the past, but expenses continue to mount and Annette still has to make special food and has to get up in the night to give Maryn medicine. I stepped in because she needed somebody to be with the family because this has been exhausting for her.”
The community has been great in supporting the family by supplying meals, yard work, house cleaning, homework and providing emotional support, Cella said. “The fundraiser will help me to continue with my daughter’s care,” she added. “The insurance was not paying for her treatment, but they were paying for the labs and the line she had placed in the vein near her heart, but once she went past nine months, they refused to pay anymore. There has been a hospital in the area that has been doing her line care for free and a nurse who volunteers to help with her line care. The clinic in Texas has written off some of the expenses, but the only way I can continue is through a fundraiser.”
Schroeer said the ordeal has been hard on Maryn’s sisters because they spend a lot of time in the hospital with her. “My hope is we can help the family to ease some of their burden by allowing them to enjoy each other as long as they can."
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