When most Grade 9 students in Centre Wellington were preparing for their first day of high school, one local teen was receiving News that changed her life.
Aleksa McWhirter, 14, learned she had a brain tumour on the day she was supposed to start high school.
“At first it started with hearing loss and then I started seeing double and then I couldn’t walk straight anymore,” McWhirter explained.
“Then half my face started to droop … So we kind of noticed and went to my pediatrician and he sent us to McMaster to get an MRI and stuff and then they found out.”
That was in September. Since then the teen has undergone six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, completing her medical treatment on Oct. 29.
McWhirter’s mom, MJ McWhirter, said they will learn how much the tumour has shrunk and what the next steps are in January.
However, the “sassy” girl, as her friends and family call her, wasn’t going to let her medical condition change her.
McWhirter and her two best friends Kenna Winget and Mya Slocombe designed T-shirts featuring “Rosie the Riveter” on the front and the words “Fight like a sassy girl” written on Rosie’s arm. The group is selling them to raise money for pediatric brain cancer research.
When asked why she decided to take on the task of fundraising, McWhirter replied, “We wanted to raise money I guess for something that’s kind of personal.”
Winget agreed, “We just kind of wanted to help out in selling them to raise more money.”
The friends have now raised over $4,000 for the cause, selling to Centre Wellington District High School (CWDHS), JD Hogarth Public School and to friends and family.
MJ said her daughter decided to raise funds about a week after she was diagnosed.
“She said, ‘Everything happens for a reason and something positive will come out of this,’ and I was like, ‘Woah, that coming out of a 14-year-old, it’s really nice’,” said MJ.
Helping with T-shirt sales were McWhirter’s Grade 7 and 8 teachers Sarah Ladner and Heather Colburn respectively. The teachers sold shirts to their friends and family too.
“I just thought it was so cute because she totally is a sassy girl and she’s fighting like a sassy girl,” Ladner said. “She’s just taking it and going with it and doing what she can to help out with the cause and stay strong at the same time.”
Both Ladner and Colburn realized they wanted to do something personally for the McWhirter family.
“I’m sure she has her moments that I don’t see but since she was diagnosed in September Heather and I have visited with her a few times at home and she’s just amazed us with how she’s remained positive and optimistic that something good is going to come of this journey,” Ladner said.
“And we were both just so proud of her courage and her strength and when we found out she was raising money for brain cancer in the midst of all this … I was just in awe of her.
Ladner added, “We realized that we wanted to do something to help her personally as she was doing something for the cause, for brain cancer and we thought it would be nice if we could do something for her and her family because we’ve seen the struggles that they’re going through. Her mom has had to take time off work to get Aleksa to Hamilton for all of her treatments and just to be with her.”
So they started their own fundraiser for McWhirter’s family.
Ladner explained, “We decided to start a GoFundMe account … in hopes that our community could come together and raise some money to help her parents to pay for their trips to Hamilton and help out with just medicine, I know her mom is doing essential oils, so just all those little things that help to make Aleksa feel better and help her, help life to feel somewhat normal at this point.”
As of press time the campaign had raised $2,810 since it began on Dec. 11.
Ladner said she hopes the campaign will help ease McWhirter’s stress while waiting for her next treatment steps in January.
“We thought it might be, not a distraction, but just something to pump her up again and help her to feel strong and feel like people are supporting her through this,” Ladner said.
Ladner and Colburn are also organizing a “Zumba for Aleksa” event at the Centre Wellingon Community Sportsplex in Fegrus on Jan. 30. Tickets are $10 and can be purchssed at the Elora Brewing Company, Wreckless Eric’s Cafe, Shakti Power Studio and Fraberts.
Though McWhirter was a student at JD Hogarth for just Grades 7 and 8 (previously she attended a school in Guelph), she made quite the impression on the Fergus school.
“She is just one of those kids that every morning she had a smile on her face and she would always say ‘hi’,” Ladner said. “If we saw her out in the community she would come up and talk to us and … it just felt like we had a bond beyond just student-teacher.
“She’s just one of those kids that you’ll always remember.”
CWDHS is also running fundraisers to raise money for pediatric brain cancer.
On Dec. 17 there was a dodgeball tournament scheduled to raise funds and on Dec. 18 teachers who reached their fundraising goals will have their heads shaved.
“We’re amazed at the out pour of support … like it’s unbelievable,” MJ said. She thanked both CWDHS and JD Hogarth for their support.
For more information about purchasing one of McWhirter’s T-shirts email MJ Mcwhirter at mj.mcwhirter@everus.ca. To donate to the GoFundMe page visit https://www.gofundme.com/Aleksa.
