Holding signs and cheering, students and faculty stood outside Holy Angels Catholic School, Woodbury, the morning of Jan. 24 to welcome first-grader Adelyn McWilliams back to class.
The youngster returned just five weeks after having emergency surgery to remove a tumor growing in the back of her brain.
It was in December that first-graders in Catherine Rieger’s class alerted their teacher that something was off with Adelyn’s health.
“When she walked toward me, she bumped into everything on her way,” Rieger said, explaining that she immediately took Adelyn to the school nurse, Donna Mulholland.
Mulholland called 911. “I knew something wasn’t right,” Mulholland said. “I knew that she needed help immediately.”
Adelyn was diagnosed with juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, a rare childhood brain tumor. Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania were able to remove the tumor without chemotherapy. Her parents, Scott and Kathy McWilliams, say there is only a 5 percent chance that the tumor will return.
The McWilliams’ said they were grateful for their faith in helping the family cope with the emergency and thanked the community for their prayers.
“[It] was a true blessing from God, all the prayers we got from the school, churches … everybody that prayed for her that we don’t know,” Kathy McWilliams said.
Story and Photos by Dave Hernandez
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
