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i wrote a card, you should too.
7th grader battles brain cancer
Friend pleas for cards to help lift girl's spirits
Family and friends of April Ries are asking people to pray for the Sequoia Elementary School seventh grader who has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and to send her cards to cheer her up.
Doctors have given the 12-year-old six months to two years. She has been in and out of hospitals since she was diagnosed in April. Her mother, Cindy Wallace, who quit her job as a maid at the Comfort Inn in Manteca to take care of her youngest child, said the growth which she described as "bigger than an egg," is in April's brain stem where the doctors can't operate.
Wallace said her daughter has just completed 31 days of radiation and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment in hopes "the medicine will shrink it down."
Not too long ago, Wallace's good friend and neighbor, Celia Carrera, gave the stricken family a copy of the movie, "The Miracle of Cards," which was based on the story of a terminally ill young boy who wanted to collect as many cards as possible from people all over the world. He did fulfill that wish and more. He ended up breaking the Guinness Book of World Records in that category.
But the main thing that the Wallace's family found most uplifting after watching the movie was the boy's miraculous cure.
"I liked it a lot. It was very sad but I think it gave (my daughter) more things to think about, and that there's hope," said the divorced Wallace who also has a daughter, Amber, a freshman at Sierra High School, and a 22-year-old son, Matthew, who is currently working for a furniture-moving company. All three children still live at home.
It was Carrera's idea to ask people to pray for April and to send her cards that hopefully will help cheer her up.
"That would be nice. I think she'll enjoy that. I think it will lift her spirits up, make her feel good," Wallace said of Carrera's idea.
Carrera's friend, June Torres, has stepped forward to help in this effort by printing and distributing flyers asking for anyone to send cards to the stricken young girl.
"She's just very tired when she takes her pills. After she takes her pills, that's it," Wallace said.
"After I take my chemo, I sit down and watch TV, or go into my room and go to bed," April said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
"I'm feeling good," she answered when asked how she was feeling that day.
She said her favorite subject at school is math because "I like it for the challenge."
She would like to be a veterinarian someday "because I love working with animals," she added.
She has claimed Emma, a female dalmatian that the family has had for three years, as her own personal pet.
Wallace described her daughter as "very active" with "lots of friends," and a "good sport."
And, she added, "she won't let anything disappoint her; she's pretty strong."
Sequoia School has been very understanding and helpful to her daughter, Wallace said.
"They give her homework, and there are days they just give her a bunch of stuff that she can do at home."
And when April was in the hospital, her classmates sent "so many cards" they literally ran out of space in her hospital room to display them.
Wallace said her daughter's problems started out as an ear infection - or so they thought, at first.
"She had blurry visions and headaches and she walking funny. She couldn't walk right. The doctor said she had an ear infection," Wallace recalled.
But subsequent CAT scans and MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) showed "a shadow in the brain stem," which turned out to be a brain tumor.
Her daughter was taken to Manteca Hospital first, then "we got sent to Oakland (Children's) Hospital, and then to UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) and that's where we stayed," Wallace said.
"We go there every month for blood drawing and more chemo pills, lot of MRIs, and brain scans every other month to see if everything is going right."
Her daughter's last brain scan was taken two months ago.
"So far things are looking pretty good. (The tumor) is still there; it's not going anywhere. The doctors say it's shrinking, so I'm hoping that the pills are working," said Wallace who is on indefinite family leave from her job at the hotel where she has been working for nearly six years.
She said the hospital has assured her "that I'll still have a job when everything gets better."
Friends and neighbors have been rallying around the family since April was diagnosed earlier this year.
"A lot of people had been helping them, family members helping her out and supporting her," said Carrera's daughter, Rebecca Aranda, who has a daughter about April's age.
"My mom and the kids have sent her (April) cards, and do little things for (the family)," Aranda said.
Just a week ago, the Wallace family were guests at a party at Carrera's home next door for the birthday of one of Aranda's daughters. A somewhat tired but otherwise upbeat April also came wearing a bandanna wrapped around her head to cover the hair loss caused by the chemo treatment.
Through all the trials of the last few months, Wallace has managed to keep a brave front for her family.
"It's really hard for me, but I'm doing okay," she said in a firm voice.
Cards or donations may be sent to: April Ries, 315 Park Avenue, Manteca, CA 95337
7th grader battles brain cancer
Friend pleas for cards to help lift girl's spirits
Family and friends of April Ries are asking people to pray for the Sequoia Elementary School seventh grader who has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and to send her cards to cheer her up.
Doctors have given the 12-year-old six months to two years. She has been in and out of hospitals since she was diagnosed in April. Her mother, Cindy Wallace, who quit her job as a maid at the Comfort Inn in Manteca to take care of her youngest child, said the growth which she described as "bigger than an egg," is in April's brain stem where the doctors can't operate.
Wallace said her daughter has just completed 31 days of radiation and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment in hopes "the medicine will shrink it down."
Not too long ago, Wallace's good friend and neighbor, Celia Carrera, gave the stricken family a copy of the movie, "The Miracle of Cards," which was based on the story of a terminally ill young boy who wanted to collect as many cards as possible from people all over the world. He did fulfill that wish and more. He ended up breaking the Guinness Book of World Records in that category.
But the main thing that the Wallace's family found most uplifting after watching the movie was the boy's miraculous cure.
"I liked it a lot. It was very sad but I think it gave (my daughter) more things to think about, and that there's hope," said the divorced Wallace who also has a daughter, Amber, a freshman at Sierra High School, and a 22-year-old son, Matthew, who is currently working for a furniture-moving company. All three children still live at home.
It was Carrera's idea to ask people to pray for April and to send her cards that hopefully will help cheer her up.
"That would be nice. I think she'll enjoy that. I think it will lift her spirits up, make her feel good," Wallace said of Carrera's idea.
Carrera's friend, June Torres, has stepped forward to help in this effort by printing and distributing flyers asking for anyone to send cards to the stricken young girl.
"She's just very tired when she takes her pills. After she takes her pills, that's it," Wallace said.
"After I take my chemo, I sit down and watch TV, or go into my room and go to bed," April said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
"I'm feeling good," she answered when asked how she was feeling that day.
She said her favorite subject at school is math because "I like it for the challenge."
She would like to be a veterinarian someday "because I love working with animals," she added.
She has claimed Emma, a female dalmatian that the family has had for three years, as her own personal pet.
Wallace described her daughter as "very active" with "lots of friends," and a "good sport."
And, she added, "she won't let anything disappoint her; she's pretty strong."
Sequoia School has been very understanding and helpful to her daughter, Wallace said.
"They give her homework, and there are days they just give her a bunch of stuff that she can do at home."
And when April was in the hospital, her classmates sent "so many cards" they literally ran out of space in her hospital room to display them.
Wallace said her daughter's problems started out as an ear infection - or so they thought, at first.
"She had blurry visions and headaches and she walking funny. She couldn't walk right. The doctor said she had an ear infection," Wallace recalled.
But subsequent CAT scans and MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) showed "a shadow in the brain stem," which turned out to be a brain tumor.
Her daughter was taken to Manteca Hospital first, then "we got sent to Oakland (Children's) Hospital, and then to UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) and that's where we stayed," Wallace said.
"We go there every month for blood drawing and more chemo pills, lot of MRIs, and brain scans every other month to see if everything is going right."
Her daughter's last brain scan was taken two months ago.
"So far things are looking pretty good. (The tumor) is still there; it's not going anywhere. The doctors say it's shrinking, so I'm hoping that the pills are working," said Wallace who is on indefinite family leave from her job at the hotel where she has been working for nearly six years.
She said the hospital has assured her "that I'll still have a job when everything gets better."
Friends and neighbors have been rallying around the family since April was diagnosed earlier this year.
"A lot of people had been helping them, family members helping her out and supporting her," said Carrera's daughter, Rebecca Aranda, who has a daughter about April's age.
"My mom and the kids have sent her (April) cards, and do little things for (the family)," Aranda said.
Just a week ago, the Wallace family were guests at a party at Carrera's home next door for the birthday of one of Aranda's daughters. A somewhat tired but otherwise upbeat April also came wearing a bandanna wrapped around her head to cover the hair loss caused by the chemo treatment.
Through all the trials of the last few months, Wallace has managed to keep a brave front for her family.
"It's really hard for me, but I'm doing okay," she said in a firm voice.
Cards or donations may be sent to: April Ries, 315 Park Avenue, Manteca, CA 95337