Beth family gets boost from Kansasville School

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

After days upon days of tests and a stay at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Mindy Beth finally knew what was wrong with her daughter, Eliza, when a specific doctor came to the door on April 1 of 2014.

“When the oncologist came to the door, you just had that sinking feeling,” Mindy said.

In spite of the day, it was not a cruel trick. Izza was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, with the cancer having spread to her lymph nodes and bone marrow.

“No, no joke at all,” Pete Beth said.

Since that day, life has changed for the Beth family – Mindy and Pete, their elder daughter Megan, Eliza (known as Izza) and their son Henry.

“Cancer takes everything that’s normal, and changes it,” Pete said. “Everything that’s normal, it’s gone.”

The students and teachers at Kansasville Grade School helped with the journey in September, holding an ice bucket challenge to raise awareness for childhood cancer Sept. 18, and then hosting an Alex’s Lemonade Stand on Saturday.

Both events were at the school, with members of the family in attendance both times. The ice bucket challenge resulted in a video available on YouTube, while the lemonade stand raised more than $500.

For the Beth family, the support that they have received from the community and church, as well as the school, has meant the world.

“It’s a way for the kids to participate,” Mindy said of the ice bucket challenge. “They’ve been very supportive through all of it.”

“We’ve been shown the support through this school. This is just another chapter of the support that they’ve shown,” Pete added.

Izza’s treatment was completed in June. Since then, she had a central venous line removed, which meant she could go back to some normal activities.

“She was able to have a bath for the first time after a whole year and a half,” said Mindy, who added that Izza got a chance to go swimming this summer finally as well.

“She’s back to just normal, every-day life,” Mindy said.

There are differences, though. Izza’s long, blonde hair – lost to chemotherapy – has grown back with a slight curl. She wears a hat to keep sunlight off her face.

And she’s getting scanned every few months for the cancer. With the cancer in stage 4, it is likely to come back.

“It’s a mean bugger,” Pete said. “It likes to come back.”

If and when it does return, the family has been told there aren’t many options.

“We were told when it comes back, it comes back to kill,” Mindy said simply. “If we make it to age 10, we’re very blessed.”

In the meantime, Kansasville Grade School has stepped into the gap in the ways that it can. Sara Damaschke, a math, reading, health and computers teacher at the school, organized the first ice bucket challenge – for ALS – last year.

This year, the students came to her.

“They know all about Izza,” Damaschke said.

For the video, students were filmed reading facts about childhood cancer, and then being doused by the ice and water.

Chances in Rochester donated the ice, and Principal Matt Stratton and fifth- and sixth-grade teacher Ron Brandt did the dousing.

As Damaschke explained, students were thrilled to get the opportunity to do something to help.

And in a small school where all students seem to know each – including not just Izza, but her sister, Megan – the effort drew a little something extra.

“They were so pumped,” Damaschke said. “Even my kids who never get excited for anything.”

To see the Kansasville ice bucket challenge video, go to Youtube.com and search for “Kansasville Childhood Cancer.”