No one saw it coming. Mary Elizabeth was a vibrant, happy 11-year-old in the spring of 2014 when the headaches, tummy aches and bruising started.
Spring Break vacation was cut short when Mary Elizabeth visibly just wasn’t herself. She was soon diagnosed with AML – an aggressive leukemia requiring not just chemotherapy, but a bone marrow transplant.
Despite Mary Elizabeth’s tortuous journey – including three bone marrow transplants from her brother, father and mother – Mary Elizabeth’s personality and love of life was simply infectious. Hundreds of thousands followed Mary Elizabeth’s fight, cheering her on and praying vigorously for her cure. She suffered through chemo burns over 90% of her body. Cranial radiation, near paralysis, induced coma, three lung bleeds – and indescribable pain.
Mary Elizabeth minimized the suffering, complaining only of missing her cats and her brother and sister, who held such a precious place in her heart. Her family and friends – and thousands of strangers – prayed for a miracle.
Mary Elizabeth died on September 2, 2015. And while her life was cut short, she left us with the miracle of having created an astounding level of awareness about the reality of an awful disease – childhood cancer. And she left us a challenge: to end the disease that cuts short such valorous, promising lives as Mary Elizabeth’s.
