BELLEFONTE — Christine Ebeling can still see the hospital hallway.
Her sister and Kennedy’s father paced. Christine and her brother stared at a black-and-white computer screen on wheels. On it was a scan of a 3-centimeter tumor in the brain of her niece Kennedy Wilson, then 3 years old, blocking the flow of spinal fluid.
The doctors’ message was urgent. Kennedy needed surgery.
Seven years later, Kennedy is a sixth grader with clear yearly scans, a dog named Cheyenne and three guinea pigs. Her recovery has become the reason why Christine and her daughter, Mackenzie Ebeling, are raising money to dance at THON 2027.
The Bellefonte mother and daughter hope to be selected as one of three dancer pairs representing the Dance Marathon Alumni Interest Group. They are seeking donations for THON and Four Diamonds, the organization that helped their family when childhood cancer arrived without warning.
“We were just a normal, healthy family,” Christine said.
On March 31, 2019, the family had gathered for Mackenzie’s junior prom photos. The next day, Kennedy began vomiting. She complained of headaches and had trouble keeping her balance.
It was flu season. The family assumed she had caught a bug.
But Kennedy’s mother felt something was wrong. She took her daughter to the emergency room and pushed for an MRI.
The scan found the tumor. Doctors later confirmed Kennedy had medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor.
Kennedy underwent a roughly 10-hour surgery on April 1. She then spent four months receiving inpatient treatment, including chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. On July 24, 2019, doctors found no evidence of disease and Kennedy rang the bell, one day before her 4th birthday.
Her scans and lab work have since remained clear. Over time, the frequency of those scans has been reduced from every three months to once a year.
For the Ebelings though, the story did not end when Kennedy returned home.
Mackenzie had grown up in Bellefonte taking part in Mini-THON events held by the Bellefonte Area School District. She knew Four Diamonds as a cause her school supported. Then the cause became her family’s reality.
Christine remembers the moment in the hospital room when her daughter found the direction she wanted her life to take.
“I remember Mackenzie sitting there as we’re all having this emotional reaction to this news,” Christine said. “I remember her saying, ‘I’m going to do this. This is my purpose and I’m going to fight for this.’”
Mackenzie later joined Hershey Kisses, a Penn State special-interest organization that supports THON and Four Diamonds. During her senior year, she was selected to dance at THON after sharing Kennedy’s story with the group.
She is now in physician assistant school and hopes to someday work with children and families at Penn State Health Golisano Children’s Hospital.
Along the way, she has shadowed the pediatric hematology and oncology team that cared for Kennedy and completed a Four Diamonds post-graduate internship, visiting research labs supported by the organization.
During one hospital visit, Mackenzie said she sat with nearly all of Kennedy’s former care team. Years after Kennedy’s treatment, they still had photographs of her on their desks.
“They had stories they still shared about her,” Mackenzie said. “That’s why they do what they do.”
Four Diamonds does more than fund research, the family said. It helps families whose lives are suddenly rerouted by a diagnosis. Christine said it helped Kennedy’s parents with medical bills and financial needs while her mother stayed at the hospital for months.
The organization also supports social workers, child life specialists, therapy dogs and music therapy.
Those services offered brief moments of normalcy during a frightening time. Christine remembers playing bingo, singing songs in music therapy and seeing children who were receiving treatment get the chance to smile.
Chemotherapy was hard on Kennedy’s body. At times, Christine said, the once-affectionate child did not want anyone close to her.
“It was very hard to witness that treatment process,” Christine said. “But these therapies that Four Diamonds helps to provide, it brightened their days. It gave them strength to continue the fight.”
The Ebelings’ campaign is about more than being selected to stand for 46 hours without sitting or sleeping at THON. It is about recognizing the people who stood with their family when there was little else to do but wait.
Mackenzie said Four Diamonds support reaches families across Pennsylvania and helps fund research that can move toward clinical trials for new treatments.
“Every dollar counts,” she said. “It makes a huge difference.”
Christine and Mackenzie hope to raise $25,000. The top three fundraising pairs in their alumni group are expected to be selected in early to mid-January, but donations can continue through THON weekend.
Kennedy is no longer the little girl whose family watched a scan in stunned silence. She is a sixth grader, growing up with the everyday joys of childhood.
For the Ebelings, that ordinary life is not something to take for granted.
“Tomorrow is never promised to anyone,” Christine said. “Every day, there are families that have to face this diagnosis and begin their journey toward recovery and healing.”
Donations to Christine and Mackenzie Ebeling’s THON 2027 campaign can be made at donate.thon.org/participants/ChristineandMackenzieTHON2027 or by mailing a check to: Penn State Thon, 227D HUB, University Park, PA 16802 Memo Line: DMAIG – Chrstine Ebeling and Mackenzie Ebeling (2027).
