Athenas raise funds for former teammate

Abigail Murphy, Print Editor-in-Chief

sweets-for-sweetie

The Athena’s Dance team rallied to support for their former teammate and 2016 graduate Stevie Anderson during the week of Sept. 5 through a bake sale fundraiser. Anderson was diagnosed with Metastatic Osteosarcoma, a type of cancerous bone tumor cancer, this past July. All proceeds from the fundraiser went directly to the Anderson family.

“When the coaches found out about Stevie’s condition, we decided that obviously we needed to do something because she was a big part of our organization for her time in high school,” Athena coach Chloe Penny said. “We needed to kind of get the ball rolling and I thought a bake sale would be a good starter at least. We plan on doing other fundraisers, but a bake sale is easy because it’s at no cost to us.”

Through the bake sale, Athenas and other contributors, including faculty and members of AVID, raised over $1360 for the Anderson family.

“It was amazing. We had a lot of support from the school. All three periods of AVID stepped up. Ms. Mitchell, Mr. Bodenheimer and Mrs. Smith were very supportive and they rallied the troops. The AVID kids were great and they wanted to get involved and wanted to sell and bake the goods. The support was really great,” Penny said.

All 33 of the varsity and junior varsity Athena teams, programs Anderson was involved in for three years, brought in 24 baked goods per person to sell during Open House and the following day before school and during lunch periods.

“We ended up selling every single item. We sold everything for one dollar and with many generous donations included and we raised over a thousand dollars. All the money is going directly to Stevie and her family to help pay for her chemotherapy and other hospital expenses that her insurance doesn’t cover,” varsity Athena junior Cecilia Kowara said.

For Anderson, the news of her diagnosis came in June following a doctor’s visit to try and find the source of her severe hip pain. An MRI discovered a mass in the pelvis that was later confirmed cancerous in early July.

Anderson was diagnosed with Metastatic Osteosarcoma, a bone cancer with metastases in other parts of the body and, in Anderson’s case, in the lungs. Anderson began chemotherapy on July 25 and has treatment every other week. These treatments keep her in the hospital for four to five days at a time.

“Everyone has been really supportive, I’ve even heard from some people I’ve never met before and I really appreciate everyone thinking about me and praying for my recovery. My family has been great, it’s hard for them too. They have to see me at my worst which is rough,” Anderson said.

Due to the diagnosis, Anderson is postponing her enrollment at the University of Wyoming until next fall.
“Because of my treatments, there was no way I could go to school so far away,” Anderson said. “The University has been really nice and they put my enrollment on hold for a year and I’ll still get to keep my scholarship so I’m looking forward to going away next fall. I’m not taking any classes at the moment. The chemotherapy makes me too sick and nauseous to study.”

Looking forward, the Athenas hope to continue their support for Anderson through ongoing fundraisers, including possible t-shirt sales in October in accordance with Cancer Awareness month.

Outside the school, family friends set up a Caring Bridge website to coordinate meals for the Anderson family. A non-for-profit organization called Wish Upon a Teen decorated Anderson’s hotel room for her last visit.

A “gofundme” page for donations to help with Anderson’s medical expenses can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/StevieAnderson.