?I believe that you can do it,? the girls chanted repeatedly.
The cheer wasn?t about winning a match.
It was about a teammate winning her battle with cancer.
Allie DeBaeke, a 13-year-old Brooklyn resident, could not play in the match Wednesday and has not been able to practice yet this year because she is undergoing chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin?s Lymphoma.
Because Allie could not attend the match against Hillsdale in person, a teacher suggested she attend virtually.
Allie took part in a face-time chat with her teammates and watched the match from her computer.
?It felt really good to see them, because I haven?t been able to see a lot of my friends in a long time,? the seventh-grader said. ?I am thankful for the event because it helps a lot. I am very happy about it.?
Because of her chemotherapy treatments, Allie is susceptible to germs and viruses and has minimal contact with others, said her dad, Scott DeBaeke of Brooklyn, who attended the match.
Scott DeBaeke said he was deeply touched by the community?s outpouring of support.
?I don?t know how to put into words how much everything tonight means to us,? he said Wednesday. ?The support from the team and the community is so overwhelming. I?m proud of these girls.?
The seventh- and eighth-grade teams originally organized a ?Volley for Hope? to raise money for cancer research at Allegiance Health, said seventh-grade coach Krista Schatzle. It only seemed right to direct their efforts to Allie?s cause.
Pink balloons inscribed with messages of hope decorated the gym and were donated by Dollar General. The ribbons the girls wore in their hair were given to them by Hillsdale Middle School students, who also gave the team a bracelet for Allie, said eighth-grade coach Jenny Tompkins.
The girls plan to wear the pink shirts with a design of the cancer ribbon made of volleyballs at matches during the month of October, Schatzle said.
The coaches gathered to figure out how to focus on helping the DeBaeke family after learning of Allie?s diagnosis. All the money raised from donations, raffles, concession stand and T-shirt sales at the match Wednesday went directly to the family to help with bills.
The financial support will help, Scott DeBaeke said.
?We weren?t expecting the out-of-pocket of the cost of the medication,? he said. ?Our insurance was covering 80 percent of it, and $345 was our cost for one week. Four times a month, we drive her to Ann Arbor for treatments. God knows my vehicle is about dead. The costs have blindsided us at a really bad time.?
The costs are nothing compared to the shock of learning their daughter had cancer. Allie was diagnosed in July after staying in the hospital for two weeks with a sore neck. Scott DaBaeke said he, his wife, Holly, and Allie shed lots of tears over the news.
?At first the news came as a total shock,? he said. ?We had already lost a child in 2004, and we thought it was possible to lose Allie as well. It?s just one of those things that I never thought would happen to my child.?
Since being diagnosed, Allie has gone through three of her six chemotherapy treatments and has been responding positively. The cancer has cleared out of her organs and is almost of out her lymph nodes, her father said.
He said they now have to get the cancer out of her blood and they have high expectations that she won?t have to do any more treatments after the sixth round.
Schatzle said it is amazing, but not surprising, that the community came together as it did Wednesday night. She said Allie?s teammates were a great help with the event, and that she doesn?t have to ask twice for help. The girls almost fight over what they can help with, because they want to do so much for her, she said.
Anna Parkinson, a 12-year-old teammate of Allie?s, said they met just this year and that the team wants to help as much as possible.
?It makes me feel like we?re fighting for her tonight,? she said.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/michigan-news/~3/AHZncPbGjvE/columbia_community_middle_scho.html
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