An 11-year-old Ohio girl with an inoperable tumor joined her fifth-grade class in a prom at her elementary school and was named prom queen Wednesday, WXIX reported.
Madison “Maddie” Smallwood was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, when she was 8, said her mother, Lori Smallwood. She is currently fighting the disease, which doctors have classified as stage four.
“She has undergone major leg surgery, four lung surgeries, and then, she's done 30 rounds of chemo and 23 rounds of radiation,” Smallwood told WXIX.
Rather than give up, Maddie has created a “bucket list” of things she would like to achieve. One of them was to attend a prom.
"She got a driver’s license. She drove a Corvette," Smallwood told WXIX. "She's graduated from sixth-grade recognition. She got to graduate from high school."
Wednesday night, Maddie got to go to the prom when the Monroe community sponsored “Maddie Smallwood’s Fifth Grade Prom” in Hamilton.
Food, dessert, a disc jockey, photographers and a limo were donated so Maddie could enjoy the evening with her Monroe Elementary classmates, WXIX reported. Four boys escorted her as “dates.”
"The love and the support is beyond me," Smallwood told the television station.
"Seeing the smile on Madison's face, it's just amazing," said Colby Watts, a classmate who was one of Maddie’s dates.
"It's happy, but at the same time, it's sad, because she's going through a lot of hard stuff," another date, Wesley Heintzelman, told WXIX.
"Haven't seen Madison smiling the way she has (tonight) in the last three years like she has with having her prom-posals and actually having this prom," Smallwood said.
Maddie does have a few more items to check off her list, including a beach vacation and taking photos in her mother’s wedding dress, WXIX reported.
A Facebook page, called "Team Madison," gives updates on Maddie and her progress.
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