MILWAUKEE — The MACC Fund does so much in our area to support families fighting childhood cancer. The MACC Fund is all fundraiser driven, so we want to introduce you to some of the families your donations help.
Sixteen-year-old Megan Schatz has a lot on her plate: Girl Scouts, tennis, youth group and band!
“I play alto saxophone but I’m a drum major for marching band, so I conduct the band,” Schatz says.
With such a full plate, you probably wouldn’t guess that Schatz has leukemia.
“I hear a lot, ‘you’re doing all of this with cancer? That’s crazy, why?’” Schatz says. “But I like to stay busy.”
As well as she’s doing now, Schatz admits those first days weren’t easy.
“It was really scary, I was scared to ask some questions because I didn’t want to get the answers,” Schatz remembers.
Schatz's mom Angie says eventually they did get the courage to ask some questions – a lot of them.
“I think by the second week we were in-patient, she had made a ‘can I?’ list,” Angie says. “Can I do this while I’m on cancer treatments, can I do this? It was very long.”
But the staff at the MACC Center didn’t understand the word “no.” There was nothing Schatz couldn’t do.
“The band concert was huge,” says Angie.
“That was the number one item,” says Andy, Schatz's dad.
“We talked about it every day at rounds,” Angie says.
Just before Schatz was admitted to the hospital, she’d been practicing months for a band concert. Her doctors worked hard to make sure she could go and discharged her days before the big show.
“It was really cool to seem them working so hard to try to make that a goal, because it was something that I really wanted to do,” Schatz says. “It was cool to see how much they value what was important to me, not just my health. Although that is very important.”
“It’s the kind of care that’s helped Megan maintain her full social calendar. And it’s the kind of care that puts a parent’s mind at ease.
“That wouldn’t be there without the financial support of the community that we live in,” says Angie. “I can’t imagine going through this living anywhere else and not having that resource right up the street.”
“Never expected to be there, but so thankful that we ended up there,” adds Andy.
As for Schatz, the MACC Fund Center staff have done their job. She’ll be done with treatments in the new year and is looking forward to the future.
“We have a band field trip, we’re going to Disney for five days, I’m a huge Disney fan so that’s very exciting!” Megan says. “The spring looks very exciting.”
