By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News
Friends of a 14-year-old Seneca High School freshman from Mazon are holding a benefit to help fulfill her bucket list after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in January.
Lisa Moore is one of the organizers of the benefit, and describes the events that led to Talia Freund’s diagnosis.
“Very active young girl. A little spitfire. She’s tiny with red hair. She loved band, she was in sports and she totally loved track. She was our mile runner on our track team since fifth grade and she was totally looking forward to cross country in high school. Unfortunately, this last spring, her track season wasn’t what it used to be. Her mile took her longer, she was almost not finishing. She started developing a lot of pain, so toward the end of the track season, she started going to the hospital. They were telling her it was muscle strain. It took finally until July, she had an MRI and they found she did have a huge tumor in her pelvis,” Moore said.
The event starts at noon March 25 at MVK Middle School in Mazon, with food, a bake sale, bounce houses and more, the moves to American Legion in Mazon from 4:30 to midnight, for a pork chop dinner, live auction, raffles and entertainment. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Moore at 815-666-2757.
