TimesLeader.com

Fundraiser benefits child with leukemia

By Rebecca Bria rbria@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

When sisters Renne and Rhonda Evans learned McKenna Budzak had cancer, they knew they had to help.

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Erin Cragle, left, and Renne Evans organize the event.

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Arianna Spurlin, of Sweet Valley, runs with her mother, Amanda.

Charlotte Bartizek/ For The Dallas Post

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Budzak, the 5-year-old daughter of David and Valarie Budzak of Hunlock Creek, was diagnosed in April with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). She and her twin brother, Noah, attended preschool this past year at Renne’s Romper Room in Sweet Valley, which is owned by Renne Evans. McKenna’s older sister, Madision, 8, also previously went to the preschool. Rhonda Evans works at the daycare and preschool.

“We decided we had to do something to help her and help the family and we came up with doing a walk for her,” Rhonda Evans said.

The Evans sisters from Sweet Valley organized a benefit walk for the little girl called “Miles for McKenna” which was held on Saturday, June 27 at Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School track. A Chinese auction, bake sale and food sale were also held at the event.

Although Rhonda Evans did not yet know the amount raised the Monday after the event, she estimated that about 200 people participated.

The cost to take part in the walk was $20 for adults and $16 for children. Each participant received a T-shirt, a water bottle and a ticket for the Chinese auction.

The Rev. Joel Stauffer, senior minister of Sweet Valley Church of Christ to which the Budzaks and the Evanses belong, said a prayer before the walk. Senator Lisa Baker and Rep. Karen Boback started the walk and McKenna and the rest of the Budzak family did the very first lap.

“I had a wonderful time at the fundraiser,” David Budzak said. “I’m very humbled by all the people that had come out to support her to give donations.”

Currently, McKenna is receiving chemotherapy every 10 days at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville and a biopsy one month ago showed that most of the leukemia is out of her body. She will continue to receive chemotherapy at different increments for about two years to get rid of the cancer completely and prevent it from recurring.

McKenna and Noah will start kindergarten this upcoming school year at Ross Elementary School in Sweet Valley.

“It’s tough, of course,” David Budzak said. “You wonder why and things like that, but she’s coping with it very well. We’ve adapted as well. Hopefully, someday we will find out why it happened.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, ALL is the most common type of leukemia in children. Today, about 85 percent of children with ALL live five years or more compared to less than five percent in the 1960s.

The Evans sisters plan to make the fundraiser an annual event and would like to expand to help the Leukemia Society.

“It makes me feel wonderful,” David Budzak said. “Once she’s over all this in a couple years, we want to be able to keep doing it for various charities.”