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Health & Fitness

F.B.O. Reyna!

Written by Beth Bitner
(originally published in JAK Chat Blog http://jakchat.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/8-and-18/)

Reyna Moore is a local Racine girl who has recently been diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, which is a rare form of bone and soft connective tissue cancer.  She has a tumor in her left hip and upper femur. The cancer has also spread to her lungs.  She has undergone 5 rounds of chemotherapy thus far and is starting her 6th round on May 29th.

Reyna is 8 years old and a middle child in a family of four children. She has two older brothers, Alonzo who is 15 and Mario who is 13, as well as a younger sister Maria who is 7 and doubles as her best friend. Her mother Trudy is a hardworking single mom who is trying her hardest to provide the best life possible for her children.

Reyna’s cancer was found after she had been complaining about her leg hurting for a couple of weeks, and it was pretty much written off as growing pains. At 8 years old, cancer is probably the furthest thing from a parent’s mind.  Trudy decided to take Reyna to the doctor after her teacher had sent a note home saying that she had noticed a change in Reyna and that she wasn’t as active as usual.  Needless to say, the diagnosis of cancer threw Trudy for a loop.  What followed was a slurry of doctor’s appointment and making a lot of decisions that no parent should ever have to think of. Unfortunately, along with a cancer diagnosis comes a sentence of financial burden.  From missed work to special dietary needs and medications and gas going back and forth to the hospital. It adds up, and quickly.

It was decided early on that a benefit was going to be the most effective way to raise money to help defray some of the costs that have been building up. It was also decided that the Racine Zoo was the best place to have it because Reyna is one of the biggest animal lovers I have ever met.  We are going to have some really great things to do there. We have a face painter, a cookie decorating table, a get well card station where people can make Reyna a card and write messages of encouragement. One of our bigger activities that we are really excited about is the Mad Hatter Tea Party.  Participants will get to decorate their own hat and have an Alice in Wonderland style tea party and who knows, the Mad Hatter himself might even make an appearance.  We also have a pretty big raffle going with the big ticket item being a two night stay at Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells with water park passes.  Along with the regular raffle, we will be having a 50/50 raffle, so someone could win big! We are also very excited to have three wonderful bands to entertain us. We will be welcoming country band Dane County, rock band The Elephant, Christian Rock band Revival and singer Cheryl McCrary.

There is admission to get into the zoo, but if you mention that you are there for the benefit, it will only be $3.  We will also have a Team Reyna store, where we will have some fun products to support Reyna and promote awareness for childhood cancer. We encourage everyone to come out and show support as well as a great chance to spend some family time together at the zoo.

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