Two years ago, the Griffin family of Vancouver lost their daughter to a rare form of brain cancer. Today, they honor her memory by creating holiday-themed gift baskets for families facing the same fight.
Maddy Griffin was 15 years old when she was diagnosed with astrocytoma, a rare type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord. She died in 2022 when she was just 16.
But Maddy’s mother, Melinda Griffin, wanted her memory to live on.
Melinda Griffin, a teacher at Riverview Elementary School, later created a Facebook page in her daughter’s honor called Miracle Maddy, where she spreads awareness of childhood cancers. On five major holidays — Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas — the Griffins create goodie baskets to deliver to pediatric oncology patients at two children’s hospitals in Portland.
“I have befriended so many people in the cancer community because of this. I feel like Maddy has given me my mission now: to bring a little bit of joy,” Melinda Griffin said. “It’s not a fix, but it’s a momentary bliss for kids who are stuck in their current situation.”
The Griffin family put together about 145 gift baskets this year. They planned to make their first delivery Friday to pediatric patients at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, where Maddy also received treatment.
The baskets are made up of items donated by community members, including toys, stuffed animals, hats, books, candy and other holiday-themed stocking stuffers. They’re often organized by age and gender, but all require one thing: a stuffed animal, Melinda Griffin said.
“It’s kind of like you build this kinship with these families,” Melinda Griffin said. “You connect to them and that’s really important to me. I don’t want to lose that.”
‘We couldn’t fix this’
In 2020, Maddy began experiencing headaches and blurred vision. Her family thought that she may need a new prescription for her eyeglasses, so they took her to an appointment at Mt. View EyeCare in Vancouver.
That appointment happened to be on Aug. 11, 2020, Maddy’s 15th birthday.
During the exam, optometrist Shannon Soper noticed fluid behind Maddy’s eyes and referred her to a local emergency room for further examination.
At the emergency room, a doctor told the Griffin family that brain cancer could be the cause of Maddy’s symptoms.
Maddy was transferred to Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel in Portland where, after days of hospitalization, she was diagnosed with an inoperable form of brain cancer, grade 3 astrocytoma glioma.
Astrocytoma, made up of star-shaped cells called astrocytes, targets the largest part of the brain. This tumor grows quickly and can spread to nearby brain tissue.
A grade 3 tumor means that it grows faster and more aggressively than grades 1 and 2. Grade 3 astrocytomas and glioblastomas account for 10 percent of all childhood central nervous system tumors, according to Cleveland Clinic.
“Even the way she battled this, we never let her know there was no cure,” Melinda Griffin said. “It was inoperable, but I didn’t want her to see what the prognosis was. We couldn’t accept that we couldn’t fix this.”
Fighting for family
Maddy immediately began chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Melinda Griffin said throughout treatment, Maddy’s high spirits never wavered.
“She was an old soul,” Melinda Griffin said.
Maddy was a student at Union High School, who loved classical music and spending time with her friends. She played piano and violin and enjoyed listening to music from the 1940s and ’50s, like Johnny Cash, her mother said.
Over the course of her treatment, Maddy began to lose function on one side of her body, meaning it was difficult for her to play.
That doesn’t mean she stopped trying, according to her piano teacher, Rebekah Meyers.
“We just picked out the melody with her one hand. Who cares about the two hands at that moment,” said Meyers, who teaches at Beacock Music. “I didn’t want her to worry about having to use two hands. I wanted her to feel the joy in music.”
In the last six months of Maddy’s life, she transitioned into hospice care. Maddy’s family took care of her at their Vancouver home.
After almost two years of treatment, Maddy died Feb. 22, 2022.
Throughout their grieving process, the Griffins said they leaned on the community for support. Riverview Elementary School raised enough money for Melinda Griffin to take a year off of teaching. Matt Griffin, Maddy’s father, is a manager at Fred Meyer and had flexibility within his job to be with family.
The Vancouver community, Maddy’s teachers, friends and doctors were all there as a support system, Matt Griffin said.
Melinda Griffin said the minute Maddy died, all the anger she felt went away.
“It can happen to anyone. I think the reality is that it’s always someone else’s kid, but it touched us,” she said. “I think it’s really hard for people who haven’t experienced losing someone to cancer.”
Now that Miracle Maddy is growing, the Griffins eventually want to start a nonprofit to continue making the gift baskets and spreading awareness about childhood cancer. After they finish deliveries for Christmas, they will immediately begin working on baskets for Valentine’s Day.
Melinda Griffin said she can picture Maddy smiling down at her and what she’s created.
“You have to find your why. I do it for her,” Melinda Griffin said.
