On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, about a block or so from our beach house, a group of 8th grade students from Belmar Elementary School, supported by several of their parents, set up a lemonade stand on 17th Avenue as part of a fundraiser for their classmate, Jackie Minchala.
This brave young lady, just thirteen years young, is battling hard against Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer that forms in the body's soft tissues. Jackie's cancer has spread. It is inoperable.
Jackie Minchala
Photo Credit: The Minchala Family
This brave young lady, just thirteen years young, is battling hard against Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer that forms in the body's soft tissues. Jackie's cancer has spread. It is inoperable.
And yet she fights.
As she does, the community continues to rally around her.
This Saturday, September 19, a group of fitness instructors shall hold a socially-distanced, outdoor fitness class, wonderfully titled "Jumping Jacks for Jackie" at Maclearie Park, between the L Street Beach and the tennis courts. The action begins at 9:30 a.m. and the suggested donation for those who want to participate is $10.00.
The proceeds from Saturday's fundraiser shall be donated to Jackie's family, which has set up a GoFund Me page to help pay for the medical bills related to her care. As of yesterday, more than $70,000 had been donated to their cause.
No one's 13-year-old child is supposed to get cancer. No one's 13-year-old child is supposed to spend summer days and nights undergoing chemotherapy. Our children should spend their summers at ease, at play, and enjoying their carefree youth that even in the normal course of events blows past them far too quickly. It is patently unfair for cancer to attack a child. But it does.
And yet she fights.
-AK
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