As Beloved Upper Merion Teen Battles Tumor, Community Rallies

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Cecily was in a coma. That is incorrect. Patch regrets the error.

UPPER MERION, PA — A young local girl is recovering following surgery to remove a brain tumor, and the community is rallying around her in a big way.

Cecily, a full of life 15-year-old and passionate cheerleader, discovered just weeks ago - on July 26 - that a tumor was growing on her brain. As related by friends in a GoFundMe campaign, Cecily was her energetic self almost right up to the day of the diagnosis.

"Literally just days before, Cecily had attended an intense cheer training camp," wrote friend Melissa Reynolds, who launched the campaign. "(She) was practicing right up until her diagnosis, where she was flying high and landing her elite tumbling passes."

Cecily underwent the surgery on July 30. The tumor was removed, and she is now in recovery.

According to friends and GoFundMe, Cecily has been cheerleading since she was just five-years-old. She's a beloved member of the cheering community, and currently competes as an active member of the Upper Merion All Stars Senior X-Small Level 5 Worlds Team, "The Royals."

The GoFundMe campaign aims to help her family with mounting medical costs. A total of $5,125 was raised on Wednesday afternoon in just a matter of four hours. A total of 86 donations had already poured in.

"I know she would never look for, want for, ask for, nor need anyone’s sympathy," Reynolds wrote. "She has displayed a strength of sheer determination to succeed in the face of even the most tragic of life’s obstacles...and a maturity beyond her teenage years."

To donate to the campaign and learn more, see here.

Image via GoFundMe