Fundraising Continues For Madeline Guarraia

A year after being diagnosed with leukemia and 11 months after the community held a massive fundraiser in her honor, the Waterford community continues to fundraise for Madeline Guarraia and her two parents, both Waterford teachers.

“We are just so appreciative,” Quaker Hill Elementary School teacher Matt Guarraia said. “For the community to keep doing this a year later is just incredible.”

Matt and Amie Guarraia’s daughter, Madeline, , when Madeline was 5-years-old. The community held a , where more than 1,000 people showed and thousands of dollars were raised for the family.

And it hasn’t stopped. This year, for the second time, all proceeds from the annual Quaker Hill 5k Road Race will go to the Guarraia family. And recently, 8-year-old Allison DeMarco refused gifts for her birthday, instead having her family and friends donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Madeline’s honor.

“It has been incredible,” Matt Guarraia said. “The fundraising has allowed my wife to stay home this year, the toughest year to go through this. I couldn’t have done it without the fundraisers.”

Quaker Hill 5k

In 2008, Kristen Przyborski’s sister, Theresa Przyborski, died of cancer at age 45. Before she died, Theresa told Kristen she wanted to do something to thank all the people who helped her fight the disease.

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So Kristen Przyborski, an avid runner who ran the Boston Marathon five times, decided to hold a 5k road race in Quaker Hill. The first few years all the money from the event went to the Dana-Farber Cancer Center, where her sister was a patient.

“Dana-Farber is just the best place, the best doctors, the best nurses, the best everything,” Kristen Przyborski said. “I knew I could never completely thank them, but this would help.”

Last year though somebody contacted Przyborski and asked her if she would donate the money to the Guarraia family instead. Przyborski thought raising money for a child fighting cancer was exactly what Theresa would want, and agreed.

This year, she will donate the money again to the Guarraia family. And from now on, money from the event will go to a family with a child who has cancer.

The course is a very challenging 5k through the many hills of Quaker Hill, and Przyborski was expecting only seasoned runners to sign up. But instead it has become a community event, with fourth-and-fifth graders from Quaker Hill Elementary School’s running it every year, just as one example.

“We were thinking only crazy runners would do this,” Przyborski said. “But now it has really become a community event, all types of people run it… That’s my favorite part, it is cool to see.”

Registration for the event is $25. To register, click here.

Madeline Update

Meanwhile, Madeline’s health is improving after undergoing extensive chemotherapy, Matt Guarraia said. After a winter where she was stuck in the house, she can now go out and is finishing up kindergarten, he said.

Still, her cancer treatments will continue until October 2013, he said. But while the prognosis could change at any time, at this point it looks like the disease has a high chance of being cured, Guarraia said.

“It has been nothing but positive news,” he said. “So we are keeping our fingers crossed... But again, we are just so appreciative of all the community support."