“Your child has cancer” is one of the most frightening sentences a parent can hear. This was the case during a school Christmas break for the parents of the then sixteen year old child of Eileen and Stephen McMullan, During Alana McMullan’s junior year at Newton County High School, she started having unexplained symptoms that led to a March 6 discovery of a two-inch brain tumor. In a true godsend moment, Brian and Heather White called and connected them with Dr. Frederick Boop, a neurosurgeon in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Boop removed Alana’s tumor on March 14, and they moved across town to St. Jude on March 19, 2018—one day before her 17th birthday.
Alana and Eileen spent the next nine months at St. Jude. She underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments, along with too many sessions of occupational and physical therapy to count. Thankfully, the rest of her family drove the four hours to see them every single weekend when they couldn’t come home to Decatur.
Paying it forward and serving others has become the mantra of this family. They began raising funds for St. Jude before even leaving Memphis. Eileen started cutting out pillowcases during the time that Alana was too sick to do anything but sleep, and her mom, Loretta Frank, sewed them in Decatur. So many friends in Newton County and beyond joined in and supported them, and they raised over $1,000 with the pillowcase campaign.
They also had a Valentine’s week cookie cake sale in February 2020, and had planned to have an Easter cupcake sale. Of course, pandemic sheltering in place orders changed those plans. Face masks were needed everywhere, so Eileen and Loretta started sewing. The face masks don’t have a price on them, but they just ask the recipients to donate to St. Jude as they are able to do so. They have made over 350 masks to date, and will continue sewing face masks as long as they are needed. Future plans include more baking projects and sewing potholders.
Another big fundraiser for the hospital is the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. This is the largest fundraiser that St. Jude has, and in 2019 the hospital had 26,000 participants and raised $12 million dollars. Alana and her family were still staying in Memphis at the time of the 2018 Marathon weekend, and they cheered on the many wonderful Newton County friends who ran/walked as Team Amazing Alana. Alana watched from a wheelchair because of the harsh effects of chemotherapy. They decided that day that they would be walking in the 2019 5K. After many months of strenuous physical therapy and progressing to a walker, to a cane, and to walking independently, she did it...the Amazing Alana walked the 5K in December 2019.
Alana graduated from NCHS in 2019. She recently completed her freshman year at ECCC. She participates in student government and is looking forward to returning to EC for her sophomore year in the fall. She is an advocate for St. Jude by not only sponsoring fundraisers with her family, but also by talking to students and children about her experiences. Through her public speaking, children see there is always hope and they can take any adversity they are faced with and turn it into a positive. Her hard work, diligence, and plans for the future are proof that they can do anything they want. After talking to the talented and gifted (TAG) students at Newton County Elementary school this fall, students decided to make “Hero Bags” for the patients at St. Jude. Although these bags were just a small craft project for the patients with an inspirational note inside, it made a huge impact on the TAG students and showed them the importance of stewardship and helping others.
The mission of St. Jude is to save children from cancer without ever sending them a bill. Alana and her family have benefited beyond words from the kindness of others, and they feel strongly about giving back. They raised $2,400 last year and plan to shatter their $5,000 goal this year.
St. Jude is feeling the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic with a lowered level of corporate donations. This hospital relies solely on donations. They need our help. The McMullan family encourages everyone to donate to St. Jude whenever the opportunity presents itself. If you would like a face mask, to learn about our continued fundraising, or to walk/run and join our Team Amazing Alana, please contact Eileen Frank McMullan on Facebook or visit stjude.org.
