Student-Athlete Advisory Com. | 4/11/2018 2:24:00 PM

 

By Julye Wemple, Press Enterprise, April 12, 2018

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — It took a year of fundraising, months of preparation, and hundreds of Bloomsburg University students, but all the hard work paid off on Wednesday when a local kindergartner was surprised with a trip to Hawaii, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Now, 6-year-old Rose Adams, who is suffering from brain cancer, and her family are packing their bags for a trip to Aulani, the Disney resort in Hawaii, so Rose can say "aloha" to her favorite Disney heroine, Moana.

The elaborate reveal at BU's Nelson Field House began with a scavenger hunt for clues at all the athletic buildings. Each clue was handed over by a different Disney princess.

Rose, who came with her parents, Sarah McGinley and Brandon Adams, and older brother Julius, eventually made her way into the pool area, where she was greeted by a throng of cheering students, her grandfather, and her teacher at Bloomsburg Memorial Elementary School, Jennee Coombe.

Rose took a quick boat ride with "The Little Mermaid" Ariel, who presented her with another clue, before making her way into the gymnasium.

'An appointment'

Rose took the excitement in stride as she grinned and waved to the crowd, which didn't surprise Coombe.

"She's all about attention," Coombe said with a laugh.

Rose was in school until about 1 p.m. when she was picked up for "an appointment." She was disappointed she was missing the afternoon field trip, she told Coombe.

The rest of the class knew they were leaving for the field trip, but didn't know why or where they were going.

As soon as Rose was sent to the office to be picked up, Coombe let her kids in on the surprise. She explained that because Rose gets sick sometimes, she had gotten a 'wish' that was going to be revealed at the end of the field trip.

"I didn't want my kids thinking like, all of a sudden, 'We're all going to Hawaii!'" Coombe said. "You're not."

Scary diagnosis

It was less than a year ago when Rose was diagnosed with cancer. Her symptoms started out as strange, but not terribly alarming, McGinley said. She was losing her balance and had started to wet her pants — years after being potty trained.

McGinley took her to the doctor, but no one could explain the symptoms. By the third visit and with no clear answer, McGinley insisted her daughter see a specialist.

Rose's parents took her for an MRI on June 7. It was supposed to take about two hours, but after four hours without a word from the doctors, they knew something was wrong.

Then they got the bad news: Rose had a brain tumor.

She was also suffering from hydrocephalus, or fluid on the brain, which was causing the dizziness and regressive behavior.

It's likely that if the hydrocephalus wasn't diagnosed, it would have killed her within weeks, the doctors told the family.

Rose underwent emergency surgery the next day to place shunts in the brain to drain the fluid. The tumor was diagnosed as pilomyxoid astrocytoma — a type of brain cancer usually found in children.

Surgery to remove the tumor would be too invasive and could kill the little girl, Geisinger doctors told the family, McGinley recalled.

'Completely blessed'

Still dealing with the after-affects of the emergency shunt surgery, Rose began physical therapy at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
That's when Dr. Phillip Storm, CHOP's chief neurosurgeon, found the family. Somehow he had heard about Rose and knew she was there for treatment, McGinley said.

He could do the surgery, he told the family.

"It was like a blessing, like he just came out of nowhere," she said.

After consulting with a few doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, who also agreed it was possible, McGinley and Adams scheduled the surgery.

Dr. Storm was able to remove about 80 percent of the tumor, McGinley said. A small piece that's touching the hypothalamus, which controls the nervous system, and her optic nerve, remains.

Chemotherapy, which was only expected to stop the tumor from growing, actually shrunk it a bit. And her wild mop of curls somehow survived the powerful chemotherapy drugs, McGinley pointed out.

"My daughter is completely blessed," she said.

'It's over the top'

The wish reveal was part of a year-long campaign by university students, explained interim sports information director David Leisering. Organizations that raise a certain amount of money are granted a wish reveal, he said. For the university, that meant raising $5,000, which the students did on their own.

Most of the work was coordinated by Courtney Noll, BU's Student Athlete Advocate and assistant field hockey coach. Once they raised the money, they got in touch with the greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia Make-A-Wish director, Ann Waltman. She helped choose Rose and coordinated the trip.

Waltman says she never expected the students to put together such a spectacular celebration.

"This is huge," Waltman said. "It's over the top."

The family will fly out of Baltimore on Tuesday for a seven-day trip to Hawaii.