Friday, April 19, 2024
Madailein Croker hadn’t been around her teachers and school friends for five months, but she didn’t seem very enthused about the start of the new school year at Tolar Elementary.
In fact, she seemed listless and just... different.
Patricia Blackshear knew there was something not quite right about her granddaughter. She noticed it during those days that Madailein and her little brother Wesley stayed with her and her husband Cory Lawson before the start of the school year and then that first partial week of school. Classes began on Thursday, Aug. 13.
Blackshear and Lawson were spending extra time caring for the children while the children’s parents got themselves ready for the new school year. Chad Croker, Blackshear’s son and Madailein’s dad, works in the Granbury Independent School District’s maintenance department. His wife Gretchen, Madailein’s mother, teaches kindergarten and first grade for Weatherford ISD.
On Monday, Aug. 17 – the third day of the school year – both Madailein and Wesley were sent home because Madailein was running a fever, Blackshear said. Temperature checks are part of school districts’ efforts to detect the coronavirus.
The fever passed, and both children were allowed to return to school on Wednesday of that same week.
But on Saturday, Aug. 22, when Blackshear visited with her son and daughter-in-law, she sounded an alarm that something might be going on with Madailein besides simply feeling under the weather.
“I had already told Chad and Gretchen that Madailein was acting different,” Blackshear said. “I said, ‘Ya’ll, something’s wrong with Madailein.’
“Her lips were pale and I was very, very concerned and upset. She was cold when it was 100 degrees outside. Her appetite wasn’t right. In the afternoon she would lay down and go to sleep, and that wasn’t like her.”
The day after that conversation – on Sunday, Aug. 23 – Blackshear received a text from Chad telling her that Gretchen was taking Madailein to the emergency room at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth because she was complaining about her stomach. Due to COVID-19 precautions, only one parent would be allowed to accompany the little girl into the hospital.
Hours later, after running tests, doctors delivered a sobering diagnosis: Madailein has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
“I just freaked out,” Blackshear said. “Immediately, in the middle of the night, they started doing a blood transfusion. I thought, this must be bad, bad.”
COMMUNITY IN SHOCK
While the diagnosis was crushing to Madailein and her family, the news also landed hard in the Tolar community and at the Crokers’ church.
The Crokers live in Granbury, and Gretchen and Chad are directors of the children’s ministry at Calvary Church on Weatherford Highway. Madailein was baptized at the church on Easter Sunday last year, according to Gretchen.
Christian Spence of Tolar, who has been friends with Chad and Gretchen for about 11 years, said she was “devastated” by the news.
“I mean, hearing that a child has cancer is always devastating,” she said, but the situation has been made even more challenging by the fact that neither of the school systems that employ the Crokers offer “paid FMLA” – a reference to the Family Medical Leave Act.
Chad and Gretchen are having to use their vacation time to take Madailein to her chemotherapy treatments. Gretchen told the HCN that she has now used all of hers.
Another problem is that the little girl’s diagnosis came just before one round of deductible and out-of-pocket requirements gave way to a new round. That essentially means a financial double whammy for the family.
Gretchen said that the family owes around $20,000 to meet health insurance requirements.
Spence said that Chad and Gretchen “are quiet and reserved but very caring.”
She stated, “They’re very involved with the church. Gretchen even said that without her faith she doesn’t know how she would make it through this.”
Spence and another Tolar resident who is a friend of the family, Morgan Loper, are planning a benefit with the help of others in the Tolar community.
The benefit is planned for 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10 – two days before Madailein’s 10th birthday. It will be held at the Tolar Community Center, located at 120 Tolar Cemetery Road.
There will be food trucks, a live auction and raffle and live music by J.D. Lewis and Justin Myers, who volunteered to perform. Loper described their singing as “Texas red dirt twang on gospel music.”
Loper said that if Madailein feels well enough to attend, precautions will be taken due to COVID-19 concerns and the little girl’s compromised immune system. Loper said that she and her husband will have their small travel trailer on site in case “it gets too overwhelming” for the child.
Loper said that if Madailein is unable to attend, she will be able to watch the fundraiser via Facebook Live.
Spence said that the Tolar school district and school community has rallied behind the family.
“Madailein’s been in Tolar since kindergarten,” she said, noting that many in the community know both her and Wesley, who is in third grade.
A gofundme page has been created for Madailein by Blackshear’s employer, Ann Garner Stephen. By late Thursday morning, almost $11,000 of the $20,000 goal had been reached.
Loper said she intends for there to be other fundraising events besides the Oct. 10 benefit.
“This is just the beginning of their journey,” she said. “I don’t want this to be a wrap party; I want this to be a launch party.”
TOUGH ROAD AHEAD
Blackshear said that doctors intend for Madailein to undergo aggressive chemo treatments for eight months, provided “her body can stand it.”
They warned that in addition to outpatient treatments, the little girl will likely have hospital stays during that time, Blackshear said.
As far as a prognosis, that may take two-and-a-half or three years, the grandmother stated.
A Facebook page called Faith Like Madailein provides updates on the child’s battle against cancer. A photo that was at the top of that page late this week showed her lying in a hospital bed, smiling.
On Wednesday afternoon, while her daughter was undergoing a medical procedure, Gretchen spoke of the “amazing” support being given to the family.
Church members started a “meal train,” she said, and she has not “had to cook, or even think about a meal.”
Another blessing is that the Weatherford school district is allowing Gretchen to work from home providing online instruction.
The good things are helping to make all the bad things bearable.
“Today’s honestly a rough day,” Gretchen said. “Outside of today (Madailein’s) been doing great. She’s in good spirits. She’s willing to do what she needs to do. She’s coming to a better understanding of it. But life is going to be different for a little while.”
Anyone who would like to send a card or letter to Madailein can write to her at: P.O. Box 462, Tolar, Texas, 76476.
“If we can rally together, that would be amazing,” Spence said. “If you can’t financially support (the family), pray for them.”
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“I had already told Chad and Gretchen that Madailein was acting different. I said, ‘Ya’ll, something’s wrong with Madailein.’”
PATRICIA BLACKSHEAR
Grandmother
“If we can rally together, that would be amazing. If you can’t financially support (the family), pray for them.”
Christian Spence
Friend of the family
