Bonita Springs, Fla. – A Bonita Springs family remembers the life of another child taken too soon from them by cancer.
Ten-year-old Isabella Mading died on Saturday after her year-long battle with a rare form of brain cancer — the same disease that killed her older brother in 2010 and her older sister 2013.
Their mother is fighting for a cure and wants to help other families in their battle against childhood cancer.
“I am sick of it. I am sick of it for my kids. I am sick of it for every person out there,” said mother Erin Mading.
Mading is suffering a fate no parent should.
“You want to say I have five, but you know people are going to look at you, but yet my child did exist,” she said.
She has buried three of her five children over the past six years. All of them diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome III, a form of brain cancer resulting from a rare gene mutation.
“We had a 25 percent chance. We both carry a mutation we had no idea to give our kids both of our mutations and three out of five got both mutations.”
She lost “Bell” on Saturday.
“I thought we forgot her when we drove down the road the other day.”
A lively little girl who loved to dance and dreamed of becoming a nurse one day.
“She matured into this beautiful young girl who had so much faith. She wasn’t scared. She just wanted to help people.”
Now, her family is taking comfort in knowing she has her brother and her sister to look out for her.
“She knew what her fate was.”
Mading said she will continue to push for a cure, citing other changes including additional sibling support and grief counseling for the families of cancer patients.
The memorial service will be on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Anchor Christian Church on East Terry Street. All are welcome to attend.
