{"id":13829,"date":"2023-10-09T11:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T15:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=13829"},"modified":"2023-10-09T11:30:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T15:30:32","slug":"teenage-brain-cancer-patient-receives-suprise-homecoming-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2023\/10\/teenage-brain-cancer-patient-receives-suprise-homecoming-dance.html","title":{"rendered":"Teenage Brain Cancer Patient Receives Suprise Homecoming Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_13835\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13835\" style=\"width: 757px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2023\/10\/megan-krafty-homecoming-dance-credit-lisa-dejong-cleveland-clinic.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-13835\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2023\/10\/megan-krafty-homecoming-dance-credit-lisa-dejong-cleveland-clinic.png\" alt=\"megan kraftyy\" width=\"757\" height=\"510\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13835\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lisa DeJong\/Cleveland Clinic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When a 17-year-old brain cancer patient was saddened about missing her senior homecoming, her caregivers decided to bring the dance to her. In May, Megan Krafty, a Huron, Ohio resident, was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering seizures. Once she had surgery to remove part of the tumor, Krafty came to the Cleveland Clinic Children\u2019s Hospital for Rehabilitation, where she was upset about missing her homecoming dance.<\/p>\n<p>Her caregivers sprang into action, putting together a Christmas-themed dance. Krafty was overcome with emotion when she arrived at the gym, surprised by her boyfriend of two years, her family and other rehab patients. The gym had been transformed into a winter wonderland. The group ate, danced, did crafts and enjoyed the afternoon. In May, a post-seizure MRI revealed a golf ball-sized tumor, as Krafty\u2019s mother, Jill Edwards, told Fox News Digital in an interview. On Sept. 12, doctors removed 70 percent of the tumor.<\/p>\n<p>Edwards said, \u201cThey had to leave 30 percent behind because it was connected to her\u00a0nervous system.\u201d As a result of the surgery, Krafty experienced some paralysis on her left side, Edwards noted. On Sept. 20, Krafty arrived at Cleveland Clinic for rehab. Now, she\u2019s already back to walking without using a walker or wheelchair. Edwards told Fox News Digital, \u201cShe is the most positive, happy person you\u2019ll ever meet in your life. Not once has she let this get her down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jh0RS_UlfN8?si=CDCQu-Ka9xIuo8Wt\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>However, Krafty was bummed when she realized that she and her boyfriend, Thomas Wilson, would have to miss the homecoming dance, especially since it\u2019s her senior year. \u201cSo I asked the nurses if she and Tommy could have a quaint little dinner in her room, just the two of them,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cAnd then, before I knew it, they had an entire dance planned.\u201d Knowing that Krafty\u2019s favorite holiday is Christmas, the caregivers decorated the entire gym in a Christmas theme and put on an entire dance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything we, as therapists, can do to put a smile on their faces and make their hospital stay easier and a more positive experience is worth it,\u201d Leah Young, a certified therapeutic recreation specialist at Cleveland Clinic Children\u2019s Hospital, told Fox News Digital. She continued, \u201cWe were not about to let a 17-year-old miss out entirely on the experience, so we brought homecoming to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lisa Leonard, an inpatient therapy clinical manager who assisted Krafty with rehab, echoed those sentiments. She told Fox News Digital, \u201cThese kids are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/health\/healthy-living\/childrens-health\">going through a lot<\/a>, so we are always looking for things we can do, especially things they are interested in or that are personal to them \u2014 to help make their stay with us better.\u201d Based on the success of Krafty\u2019s dance, the staff told Edwards that they plan to do this every year for all the young patients.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Krafty will receive six weeks of radiation treatments. Meanwhile, Edwards said they are awaiting pathology results from the surgery. She said, \u201cWe know she has an aggressive, grade 4 glioma, but we\u2019re waiting for the pathology report to tell us what type of glioma and how severe that is.\u201d That information will determine Krafty\u2019s prognosis and future treatment routes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a 17-year-old brain cancer patient was saddened about missing her senior homecoming, her caregivers decided to bring the dance to her. In May, Megan Krafty, a Huron, Ohio resident, was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering seizures. Once she had surgery to remove part of the tumor, Krafty came to the Cleveland Clinic&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":13835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,4,12],"tags":[2144,2147,2141,2138],"class_list":["post-13829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrations","category-inspiring-messages","category-inspiring-people","tag-cancer-patient","tag-cleveland-clinic","tag-homecoming-dance","tag-megan-krafty"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Teenage Brain Cancer Patient Receives Suprise Homecoming Dance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Megan Krafty, a teenage brain cancer patient, received the surprise of a lifetime when her hospital staff suprised her with a 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