When she’s not sinking buckets, Norah Watry enjoys volleyball, soccer and softball.
“I just don’t really like a dull moment and our family has always had a lot of stuff going on, and we just always like to do stuff together,” Norah says.
Which means the last year or so was pretty tough for her.
“Lots of TV watching, lots of arts activities, and board games and puzzles,” Norah says.
Last June, Norah’s mom Emily took her to the doctor with stomach pains.
“Lots of tests – we fully expected something as simple as appendicitis and two days in we get the news that her bloodwork was abnormal and, yeah, they told us leukemia,” Emily says.
“I was just so in shock, I couldn’t even bear to think about what was going to happen and how everybody else was going to treat me, and like, what’s going to happen,” Norah adds.
Fortunately, the Watries were surrounded by an amazing care team at the MACC Fund Center.
“There were social workers coming to help, there were people who were just trying to think about my personal self-being, instead of just my health,” Norah says.
“We would have taken her across the country if we’d needed to, and we just felt great about them right off the bat,” Emily adds.
The MACC Fund supports research and treatment for kids like Norah – which is why she was thrilled to be chosen as this year’s MACC Star Designer.
“There’s a lot of kids with cancer so I’m honored to be the one chosen!” Norah says.
The Watries hope you’ll spend $11 to buy one and support the work done at the MACC Fund Center.
“We’re lucky now to be through the hard parts of her treatment and home and not at the hospital so much, but it’s really hard to not think about all those families that are still there every day,” Emily says. “The ones that are newly diagnosed, the families that are there for the second and third time.”
Leaders with the MACC Fund say your support has helped increase cancer cure rates from 20 to 80%. And the support of the MACC Fund means Norah is getting back to normal.
Norah says, “Things keep getting better every day and keep taking steps forward.”
To buy your own MACC Star ornament, just follow this link.
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