Urbandale Prays for a Miracle for Grace

Urbandale is praying for Grace Chance. 

In an Urbandale split-level ranch home, the 14-year-old eighth-grader is mostly sedated to control pain from an inoperable brain tumor.

Her mother and father, Shelly and Jay Chance, and younger sister, Sarah, and some close friends, are by her side.

"It was an all-out community effort to show that love and support. It was really, really special."

On Sunday night, their numbers grew by about 600 as people who care about the family gathered outside their home to pray for a miracle. 

Kim Jones, the varsity girls' softball coach at , was one of them.

"When I got there, there were probably 50 or 60 people. It wasn't until I turned to leave that I saw there were people all up and down the street," she said.

A WHOtv.com video doesn't capture the magnitude of the crowd or the emotion.

Dan Meyer, Grace's middle-school principal, described the scene as people "shoulder-to-shoulder, and up and down the street. It was an inspirational moment."

Grace's softball coach, Jennifer Mockus, on Friday organized the gathering. "I just emailed everyone I knew. I didn't expect it to be that big."

Mom Delivers Bad News

Mockus, a critical-care nurse, was responding to a post Grace's mom put on her Caring Bridge site Thursday night. It reads, in part:

"Today has to be one of the hardest days for us to update CaringBridge for you all. We did not have good news at the doctor today," she wrote.

"The MRI that was done on Tuesday shows the cancer from the tumor has spread. In the MRI, it is showing smaller tumor growths around the ventricles and the membrane around the brain. These growths are cancerous without a doubt. They also look to be growing down the spine. 

"The doctors said the cancer is spreading at a rapid rate. … With the natural flow of the fluids from the brain throughout the body, it is probable that the cancer has spread throughout her entire body. 

"Grace has been in extreme pain and very uncomfortable the past week. Our goal now is to make her comfortable and pain free!!! We are at home and we are giving her medications to help reduce swelling, as well as eliminate pain as much as possible... 

"There is no treatment that will stop it completely and Grace is just too weak to take any type of chemo to help slow down the spreading of the cancer. 

"What we need now is prayers to God!!! He will help ease Grace's pain. He will help her get through this difficult time."

Dad Concerned About Classmates

On Friday, Jay Chance went to school to tell Meyer the bad news and to discuss how to tell Grace's classmates.

"Grace is such a tremendous kid," said Meyer. "She was in show choir, band, on the honor roll, in athletics. She's just a very outgoing, gregarious kid and she transcended groups or cliques. 

"Everybody knew that she had brain cancer," he said. Grace was diagnosed in June and spent much of her summer being treated at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. "She dealt with that so gracefully. With elegance. But I'm not sure all of our kids understood the terminal possibilities of that."

Grace hadn't been in school since mid-October, he said. Her classmates knew she was starting intensive chemotherapy and expected that she would be sick as a result.

Things actually were much more challenging for Grace. She suffered complications from the chemo and had to go back to Memphis for a surgery. The family was able to celebrate Christmas at home, but Grace was so dizzy in the days after Christmas that she couldn't stand or sit up, according to her mother's Caring Bridge posts.

On Friday, the eighth-grade teachers read a statement prepared by Meyer and Jay Chance to the students during their last-period class. The eighth-graders were given a letter to take home and were encouraged to talk to their parents about their feelings. 

That evening, Mockus' email began to go viral in Urbandale.

A Community Gathers to Pray

Mockus asked everyone to bring white candles — the color of hope. "We tried to make it about healing and praying for a miracle."

Mockus and some of Grace's friends picked out songs, a youth pastor led the group in prayer. The middle school show choir sang "Amazing Grace" and "I'll Be There." The lights of hundreds of candles filled the street. Some people lit lanterns and lifted them into the air.

Jay, Shelly and Sarah Chance came out at various times and there were hugs and tears. Mockus said she didn't know if Grace was aware of the gathering.

"The big piece is that everybody who came wanted to let Grace and her family know there are a lot of people thinking about them and praying for them," said Jones. 

There were all ages of students; families from , families from Grace's competitive seventh-grade softball team — the one that won the national championship last summer in her honor — teachers from , her elementary school, fellow show choir members and their families, school board and city council members, and neighbors.

"It was an all-out community effort to show that love and support," said Jones. "It was really, really special."

"We are all praying for a miracle," said Meyer. "Frankly, I believe that miracle may have already occurred. We were very lucky to have Grace be part of our lives. Just the fact that she lived the life that she did and served as such an example to all of our kids is the miracle."