2020/2021 RO4C Recipient: Harper Mahle

A big RO4C welcome to our 2020/2021 recipient; Harper Mahle, from Andover MN. This bio was written with information supplied by Harper’s parents, Nate and Marissa. Welcome, Mahle Family, the RO4C is so proud to be able to stand with #TeamHarper.

From Harper’s parents: “Harper is a lovely, energetic four year old who loves to play with her trains, her sidewalk chalk, and with her dogs, Tucker and Titan. She is obsessed with Frozen Two and because she enjoys making people laugh, you’ll often catch her telling joke. Beginning this past January, Harper had been having on-again and off-again fevers accompanied with intermittent pain in her legs. We took her into urgent care to have her checked out and were told that if she was still experiencing pain in a week, to bring her back in. On Monday Feb 3rd, Harper was again complaining of leg pain and again, showing a fever. We felt she needed to be seen again so we this time brought her to a nearby clinic. After checking her over and knowing her symptoms, they felt it was important to get some blood work. Her blood work results came back and they suggested we go to Children’s for additional tests as her white blood cells were higher than normal and her hemoglobin was low. After waiting for two hours in the emergency room, Harper was finally seen and was admitted right away so she could be treated immediately. After some additional tests at Children’s, we were informed of the heart breaking conclusion that our baby Harper has Leukemia.

The next day, Tuesday, Feb 4th, we received the best diagnostic outcome when we were told that Harper has B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or B-ALL. For those of you that don't know, B-ALL is the most common type of cancer in children and it affects the B-Cells in the immune system. The disease starts in your child's bone marrow, which is the spongy center of bones where new blood cells grow. The leukemia cells grow very fast and crowd the bone marrow, so the bone marrow has trouble making enough normal cells. The treatment will most likely be 2 to 2.5 years of chemo and assorted other treatments. Fortunately, B-ALL has the highest cure rate which is 90%. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult journey. We appreciate your support!”

Donations to the Ride-On 4 Carrie Charity are not earmarked for a specific beneficiary. All donations to the RO4C support not only that year’s beneficiary, but also other individuals and families facing a cancer diagnosis that the RO4C's board chooses to support either that year, or in future years. Each year, the RO4C Board will allocate funds to selected recipients based on need, each recipient’s unique circumstances and the RO4C’s available resources.