Grace for Grace: A Story of How Urbandale Cares

No one at asked Grace Chance what she did over her summer vacation.

"Everybody knew," said Grace, 13. Of course her bald head, burned purple by radiation, was a giveaway as well.

Everyone at knew that Grace had been diagnosed with a rare, inoperable brain tumor in mid-June. They knew she didn't get to play with her softball team, which went to the regional World Series and won. And that she and her mother, Shelly, spent eight weeks at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital where Grace received six weeks of intense radiation and chemotherapy.

They knew that her sister, Sarah, had started a Facebook page - Pray for Gracie <3.  (By the way, don't call her Gracie. She really doesn't like that name. Only Sarah gets to call her that.)

And they knew that people all over Urbandale, all over the country, and even outside the country, were pulling for this teen's recovery from a medical trauma that most adults would be reeling from. 

Large Tumor Found in Middle of Grace's Brain

Until that day in June, when doctors came into the Blank Children's Hospital emergency room and told Grace and her parents, Jay and Shelly, the news that no one ever wants to hear, Grace and Sarah had never had so much as a broken bone, let alone any kind of surgery, said Shelly. 

The doctors said Grace had a large tumor almost exactly in the middle of her brain. Surgery to remove the tumor likely would kill Grace or leave her severely impaired. Their best hope was to go immediately - as in the next day - to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., the top pediatric neuroscience center in the country.

"I didn't think I could breath," recalls Shelly, of hearing the news. What did Grace recall?  "I thought…..Nothing."  It was such a shock she couldn't process thought or emotion.

The next day, the family was at Le BonHeur. Grace had brain surgery to biopsy the tumor and put a tube in her skull to improve blood flow from one part of the brain to the other because the tumor was interrupting that.

A Lottery You Don't Want to Win

The doctors told them that Grace had a rare form of cancer. Only about 300 cases a year are diagnosed in the United States -- most of them in men between the age of 30 and 50.

What are the odds this kind of cancer would strike a 13-year-old girl? 

"They told us she has better odds of winning the lottery two weeks in a row," Jay said.

"We should have bought those lottery tickets," Sarah jokes.

This is something they are going through as a family and one can quickly see how they support each other and try to help each other when a positive attitude falters. 

The tumor has shrunk and apparently is dying from the center out.  Good news, but Grace still has to have an intense chemotherapy routine for a year. Plus, she has to return to St. Jude's Hospital for tests every eight weeks.

How does she handle it?

"I get up and look at today's agenda. What do I have to be able to do today? And what I have to do tomorrow? I take it one day at  a time," she said.

Chemo Makes Her Tired and Nauseated

And some days, that's not easy. The chemo makes her tired, nauseated and gives her diarrhea. Eating is difficult. Her appetite is gone but she forces herself to eat. Even so, her stomach sometimes does not cooperate.

She likes to be outdoors, loves to swim, hang out with her friends, and be active. Some of those things, particularly the swimming, she can't do.

Plus, being the kid with cancer is weird. People have been wonderful. She tells stories of peers raising money for her by going around with donation jars at Friday Fest. Of softball teams that raised money for her. Of Urbandale Middle School teams that are participating in a walk for her on Sunday.

She said most kids at school don't talk to her about her illness.

"There isn't much of a reaction except for people hug me all the time and people always want to be around me. A lot of people want to be my friend now, which is kind of weird," she said.

Overwhelming Support from Urbandale

Jay and Shelly are overwhelmed and amazed by the support of Urbandale, especially the girls softball community.

The family has only lived in Urbandale for 10 years, but they said they feel like people they barely know are supporting them like they're family.

Shelly says her employer, Wells Fargo, let her work remotely from Memphis where she and Grace spent the summer. 

But the company is switching its insurance provider at the first of the year and she's trying to decipher how that will affect her family financially. As far as she can tell, her choice of new plans is one that will be four times higher out-of-pocket costs or the other that will be five times higher.

"People are already calling us about getting paid," said Jay. Insurance is covering much of the expense, and St. Jude's will help with expenses that insurance doesn't cover, but keeping up with all the medical bills is almost a full-time job.

"When you live day-by-day, paycheck-to-paycheck and something like this happens…" said Shelly. "I don't have a giant savings account of $50,000 to cover something like this."

Race 4 Grace Fundraiser on Sunday

The family continues to get financial support and emotional support in many ways. Here are three ways you can help: 

• Wells Fargo Banks have a charitable fund for Grace: the Grace Chance Charitable Fund. Anyone can donate to it whenever they are at any bank.
• Or you can follow Grace's progress on her Caring Bridge site.
• The Race 4 Grace is Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. at , 12955 Aurora Ave.  The cost is $10 and there also will be T-shirts for sale. Proceeds go to help defray the family's medical expenses and travel back and forth from St. Jude's Children's Hospital. For more information, email Jody Kimberley or call 515-707-1077.