Royalton-Hartland residents know very well the ongoing battle that young Megan Redenbach had with cancer. Sadly, the courageous 15-year old sophomore lost that battle earlier this morning.
This is a horrible tragedy for her family and the entire Roy-Hart community...magnified by the fact that this is the time of year when joy and love -- not pain -- are supposed to dominate your thoughts.
That said, please keep the Redenbach's in your prayers. They'll need all your support and love.
It's ironic that the Buffalo News ran a front page article about the young lady in today's newspaper. Here it is in its entirety, just updated minutes ago by the Buffalo News staff....
Meghan Redenbach, who lost her battle with cancer this morning, made it to every Royalton-Hartland volleyball game she could this season.
When her body was healthy enough, even while it was battling cancer and dealing with chemotherapy, she played.
When she was able to be on the bench, the 15-year-old sophomore became another assistant coach. On one occasion this season, she was not exactly pleased with what she was watching.
"I didn't bust out of the hospital for you guys to be playing like this!" she yelled.
That was classic Meghan, according to Roy-Hart coach Bill Holahan, who watched her battle back from two surgeries to take the floor for the Rams this past season.
"When she wasn't able to play she would watch, and if people weren't giving 100 percent, it would bug the heck out of her," he said. "You have to think that time was so precious for her, and for someone not to take advantage of every single second."
Meghan died at 6:15 a.m. today in Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where she battlled a malignant tumor in her ovaries. The fibrosarcoma is a form of ovarian cancer so rare that only 30 cases have been documented -- and only one in a child -- according to what doctors have told her parents.
"She just has incredible courage and determination and the ability to fight through things," Holahan said prior to Meghan's death. "Anyone who has come into contact with her has fallen in love with her and her courage."
Last year, a joint effort by New Era Cap Co. and Roswell Park chose Meghan as one of three cancer patients whose story -- and baseball cap design -- would represent the New Era New Hope campaign.
Meghan wrote:
"I guess the saying, 'You never know how strong you are until strength is your only option,' is really true. People have said it is amazing how I can do all this and stay so positive. I strongly believe that I am doing what any other person would be doing if they were in my position.
"Being diagnosed has opened my eyes to everything in life. I have never really appreciated my friends and family as much as I do now. If it weren't for them, I am not sure I would have gotten as far as I have. Every day I tell myself, 'Just another day. No matter what, I will make it to tomorrow. Even if I fight all day. I'll make it.'"
Monday night, Roy-Hart senior Bridget Shanahan, Meghan's best friend and teammate, was part of a photo honoring the All-Western New York girls volleyball team at the Buffalo Niagara Court Center in West Seneca. She left Meghan's bedside to bring Meghan's Roy-Hart and Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club jerseys, which were held up during the photo as a tribute.
"We would have a game, and even though it would be hard for her to get there, she would still be there," Shanahan said. "The atmosphere would completely change when she would step on the court. It was unlike anything else. The whole crowd would cheer, and she wouldn't even have to do anything.
"It's hard to see someone you love so much be in so much pain. It's indescribable. You're sitting there, and you can't do anything about it. There's not much you can say. It's terrible."
On Monday, NFVB players streamed in and out of the BNCC office to sign a quilt, complete with volleyball patterns and pictures of Meghan. The quilt was crafted by Sue Haefner, the aunt of Roy-Hart player Molly Murphy, along with a friend, Jenine Morningdove.
"We all are praying for her and give her our best wishes, and it's the entire club," said Heather Feldman, a member of Eden's state championship team and one of hundreds of members of NFVB. "She has so many fans here, that she's made through volleyball, and she's an inspiration to all of us."
Meghan initially was diagnosed Dec. 12, 2008, midway through her eighth-grade year and after a successful junior varsity volleyball season, as well as a day after she tried out for the Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club team. Later that year, Meghan returned to Roy-Hart, where Holahan was her eighth-grade history teacher.
"You wouldn't believe the number of days she attended," he said. "She'd drag herself there. Sometimes, because of her treatments, she couldn't stay awake, or she'd be loopy -- but she just wanted to go to school and be a normal kid."
More persuasion
By her freshman year, she had another impressive year on junior varsity and earned a call-up to the varsity for the playoffs. At every step, Holahan was astounded by her "innate ability to lead" and her lack of bashfulness in talking to older players. At the end of the season, she did some more persuasion -- she would need another surgery, but she talked doctors into holding off until the end of volleyball.
"She told doctors, 'You're not going to cut me open now because I've got a couple of games left,'" Holahan recalled.
The Roy-Hart community rallied behind Meghan and her family -- parents Mike and Nancy and older brother Nick -- with several fundraisers and by establishing Meghan's Fund (see meghansfund.org to donate).
Last summer, Meghan had returned to the court and attended several volleyball camps. She attended a camp at the University of Wyoming with Shanahan, who had verbally committed to play Division I volleyball at the school.
This season was shaping up to be a special one at Roy-Hart, a small school that doesn't see a Division I athlete every year. Meghan, at 5-7, was an accomplished setter, the focal point of a volleyball offense, and she had as close a connection with the 6-2 Shanahan on the court as she did off it. They were the ideal volleyball yin and yang, Meghan placing the ball in the perfect spot in the air, Bridget rising up to it and hammering it down.
Then, in August, the cancer came back.
"When it did return, rather than the typical 'Woe is me,' her first thought was that it was so untimely," Holahan recalls Meghan saying. " 'It's [Shanahan's] senior year.'"
The first thing she told her coach when he visited her that month in Roswell Park was, "Let's get ready by Albion." Roy-Hart's main rival in the Niagara-Orleans League would visit the Rams on Sept. 21.
"She's there flat on her back," Holahan said, "but she knew Albion was coming up, and she was not going to let her teammates down."
Meghan was able to get back on the court for that match -- won by Albion -- and Holahan got her into any match he could.
Meghan was able to get back on the court for that match, after a few practices -- and a minor adjustment to how those practices started out. "For the first couple of practices she was able to be there for," Holahan said, "the ball would get hit over to her, and she'd set it, and the kids would start clapping.
"Meg got mad: 'I'm not 12 years old!'" Holahan recalled with a laugh. "So we worked that out -- it just bugged Meghan that they were clapping after making a play."
Holahan got Meghan into any game she could.
"She was definitely hurting, but if she was well enough to attend the practice or the game, we were able to get her in," he said. "That was the theme of the year, to try and do whatever we can to get Meghan in.
"Everybody adapted to the situation. We spent a lot of time talking at practices, not as much time drilling this year. We all knew what was going on -- that was more important."
And once Meghan got on the court, her teammates knew where the ball was going.
"Everyone's mindset was completely different," Shanahan said. "It was so much bigger than a volleyball game, that we were a family, and to get her the ball was more than just a good pass."
Meghan had some highlight games, including a 12-assist performance Sept. 27 against Barker, but getting on the court was an accomplishment itself.
'She'd get right up'
She had lost weight, and her strength had been sapped. Holahan said the gym floor never seemed so hard as it was when Meghan went down during a play. Shanahan was vigilant about helping her friend up -- even if it came in the middle of a point.
"Just to see the fire in her eyes as soon as she would be down on the floor," Shanahan said, "I would try and help her up as much as I could. And she'd get right up and get the next ball."
More than a few plays were heartwarming and heart-rending at the same time.
"You'd be clapping with tears running down your face," said Caryn Shanahan, Bridget's mother.
The sports pages from Roy-Hart's 2010 volleyball season forever will read that the Rams lost both matches against Albion and that they fell to eventual state champion Falconer in the Section VI Class C semifinals -- another match in which Meghan was able to play.
But different kinds of victories brought different things to cheer.
At Roy-Hart's "Dig Teal" night to raise awareness for Meghan and ovarian cancer -- while the pink ribbon is associated with breast cancer, the teal ribbon is associated with ovarian -- featured teal balloons and teal cookies.
But no one knew if Meghan was going to be able to make it -- until, walking with difficulty, she showed up about 12 minutes before the match. That was the Rams' allotted time for their prematch warm-up, but instead teammates visited and took pictures with Meghan, who on this night was so ill she couldn't stay for all the action.
'Amazing speech'
On Senior Night, Meghan was on hand to present flowers to Shanahan during the pregame ceremony.
And two weeks ago, Meghan, as Caryn Shanahan put it, "busted out" of Roswell Park to get to Roy-Hart to attend "Teal Night" at a basketball game. Meghan drew another ovation as she entered in a wheelchair.
Like their season, Roy-Hart volleyball's awards banquet took on a different meaning this year. Shanahan delivered a speech that Holahan called "amazing." In it she said, "sometimes winning isn't the most important thing."
"Everything that I thought is totally different," Shanahan said just after Monday's photo was taken, still holding Meghan's jersey.
"It's not about just me, and of course, volleyball is an important part of my life, but, ... volleyball will bring me back to the old times when she could set me the ball, and I would slam it down," she said with a big smile, moments after wiping away some tears. "When I'm on the court, she'll be right there with me."
Source:
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/high-schools/article292878.ece
