Southwest Side Rallies Around St. Cajetan 9-Year-Old After Surgery to Remove Rare Tumor

The good people at St. Cajetan’s Parish and the Morgan Park community have given the Taff family many reasons to be thankful. When Thomas and Jen Taff faced a mountain of medical bills related to their 9-year-old daughter Megan’s mysterious illness, they came to the family’s aid.

Their odyssey began two years ago, on Christmas Eve, when debilitating pain forced the family to take Megan to Palos Community Hospital. Unable to diagnose her, she then went to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and later the Mayo Clinic. Megan’s overall health spiraled downward, and at one point, she weighed just 26 pounds. Eventually, the family learned a massive tumor was growing in Megan’s hip socket. Doctors removed the tumor, operated again to shave her hip bones, and operated a third time to reconstruct her hip.

“It’s a rare tumor. People have said that no one in our lives will ever see anyone else with it,” Jen Taff told Howard Ludwig, reporting for DNAinfo Chicago. “The best thing was no tumor has come back.”

The last surgery put the St. Cajetan third-grader into a full body cast, from chest to ankle. To date, 351 donors have contributed more than $28,000 to defray the cost of Megan’s care through a GoFundMe site set up by a friend, Laurie Belle.

If the Taff name sounds familiar, Thomas Taff is a former Chicago firefighter who founded the Bucks for Burn Camp, which helps to send children with severe burn injuries to camp. Taff suffered severe burns himself and a fall from a building while on the job 17 years ago.

“Many people have told me that now they finally get a chance to help the Taffs,” he told DNAinfo.

On Friday, J.C. Restoration Inc, a company Thomas Taff works with that restores buildings damaged by smoke, water and fire, has scheduled a fundraiser for Megan, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 3200 Squibb Ave. in Rolling Meadows.

» more via DNAinfo Chicago