SeDo. comes together to help student in need
Staff Writer
DOVER-FOXCROFT — Members of the SeDoMoCha School community have held several fundraisers to benefit grade 8 student Raven Nally and her family while Nally is undergoing treatments for Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancerous bone tumor affecting children.
“She was diagnosed in April of 2012 with Ewing’s sarcoma, which is rare form of bone cancer,” said special education teacher Andrea Philbrick-Cooper. She said Nally has been undergoing chemotherapy and has had several surgeries, including an operation to remove part of a bone. Through all the treatments Nally has been “an incredible kid with lots of spirit, she inspires us to help her.”
Philbrick Cooper said in the late spring of 2012 a spaghetti supper and silent auction raised several thousand dollars for Nally and her family. “We also did dress down days on Fridays, staff was able to wear jeans,” she said in exchange for a donation which went to Nally.
“This (school) year on Nov. 30 we did a dance,” Philbrick-Cooper said about the “Rock for Raven!” evening for middle school students. “She helped come up with a design of the flyer,” Philbrick-Cooper said, which included eight silhouettes of people dancing as well as a ribbon and the words Sarcoma Awareness stamped on the flyer. “She was able to come briefly that night,” Philbrick-Cooper added.
“The kids really came and supported her,” she said, mentioning Rock for Raven! had a higher attendance than other SeDoMoCha Middle School dances and raised over $950. The event included free throw and sing-off contests, students entered by making a small monetary contribution, with the SeDoMoCha School Organization donating gift certificates for the winners.
“Just before Christmas we had a hot cocoa party,” grade 7 science teacher Mary Povak said. She explained that students in her team, which is comprised of pupils in multiple grades, and several others organized the hot cocoa party where students could enjoy the drink while watching a movie and were able to purchase baked goods with proceeds benefiting Nally.
“The kids really like helping,” Povak said, with the bake sale from the hot cocoa party raising about $200.
While undergoing treatments, technology specialists at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor have worked to keep Nally connected to the classroom at SeDoMoCha. The audio-video equipment, used by the hospital to connect physicians throughout the state, enables Nally to stay up to speed with classmates and school work and also to stay in touch with her family in Dover-Foxcroft.