Maddie Breza was gearing up for her final semester of high school. The senior at South Winneshiek High School in Calmar, Iowa, took classes throughout the summer and fall of 2023, determined to walk across the stage to receive her diploma with the class of 2024.
However, life threw a hurdle in Maddie’s path in January with a medical diagnosis that required her to spend most of her days over the next five months at Gundersen La Crosse Hospital. Sadly, the timing couldn’t have been worse, as that schedule forced her to miss the graduation ceremony she so wished to be a part of. But thanks to the staff in her pediatrics unit, Maddie had a special celebration all her own.
‘All of a sudden, it just happens’
Maddie’s always been a quiet soul, her mother Barb said, so when she began saying that she didn’t feel well in December 2023, it caught her attention. Then the following month, she began to vomit randomly – several times while at work at the local movie theater in Decorah. That was unusual enough that it was time to see her doctor at Gundersen Calmar Clinic.
After having blood work done there, Barb got a call that afternoon from the doctor. It was urgent. Maddie needed to go to La Crosse immediately. She had an alarming number of immature white blood cells (blasts) that were multiplying uncontrollably – a tell-tale sign of leukemia.
“You need to get to a trauma center. They’re waiting for you. You just need to get up there,” Barb remembers being told.
What followed were rounds of tests, consultations and, finally, results, which confirmed what was suspected – the “L” word, as Barb puts it. Eventually, Maddie was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 13 (the day before Valentine’s Day, she remembers) for months of treatment, which meant a cycle of around 29 days in the hospital and seven days at home. Rinse, repeat.
It’s a rhythm no one in the family expected to fall in to. Until December, Maddie was a healthy girl.
“All of a sudden, it just happens,” Barb said. “It’s just weird because one day you’re good and the next day, you’re not. That’s what’s just so strange about diseases, I suppose.”
Graduating in a new way
Along the way, Maddie missed those life milestones. She spent her 19th birthday in the hospital, but luckily, there will be more birthdays. However, her high school graduation was once in a lifetime. Knowing how important that was to Maddie, her care team at Gundersen decided to do something about it.
Headed by child life specialist Jessica Wadium, staff began planning a party for Maddie on her graduation day at South Winn., May 19. Gundersen IT worked with school technology staff to provide a livestream of the ceremony into a conference room on Maddie’s floor. But she wouldn’t just be watching the proceedings.
Prior to the ceremony, donning a cap and gown and with Pomp and Circumstance blaring from her mom’s phone, Maddie processed down the hallway, which was lined by Gundersen staff, therapy dogs and special guests like her boss and assistant manager at the theater. They all cheered her on as she made her way to the decked-out conference room.
Once there, Maddie stood with the other graduates until everyone was in place. Then they all took their seats together.
“I had us all be engaged in it, so when her class stood up, she stood up. When everybody clapped, we clapped,” Barb said. “It was really, really great.”
Then when it came time to distribute the diplomas, Maddie received hers first. Her dad Jeff had picked it from up from the school a couple days earlier, so when her name was called at the ceremony in Calmar, her parents handed it to her in La Crosse.
Following commencement, guests were invited to stay for a lunch of sub sandwiches and cake – and take photos with Maddie.
“I was very surprised and shocked at the same time,” Maddie said, when she found out what was happening that day. “I was just speechless at the whole thing.”
“It was just a really special day,” Barb added. “It was unforgettable.”
Wadium said it's her job, as a child life specialist, to help celebrate the milestones in patients’ lives, especially those that would normally happen outside the hospital. The purpose behind it, she said, is to normalize the hospital experience as much as possible and make it a less scary or intimidating place to be.
For Maddie, she said grauduation was something that needed to be recognized – and in a big way.
“It was a big achievement for her, and this was really something special for the family, so we knew we had to acknowledge it,” Wadium said. “We knew we had to celebrate it.”
The future
Following her discharge, Maddie will be returning to La Crosse for monthly checkups. And if all goes well, she’ll slowly return to her job at the movie theater – one she’s had for three years. In fact, before her illness, Maddie decided she wanted to keep working there after high school, so her managers decided to teach her more about the business, with the goal of eventually becoming an assistant manager.
“She just has a really special relationship with the people she works with, and they have been so wonderful for her and with her,” Barb said. “She loves her coworkers so much.”
But outside of work, Maddie’s simply looking forward to doing the things young adults do – and for her, that means getting a driver’s license. And what’s the first thing she wants to eat when she gets home?
“Just a whole bunch of junk food,” she said.
But mostly, the family is looking forward to getting back to a sense of normal.
“It’s quite the journey,” Barb said. “I feel like it’s been five months, but it’s been five months? It’s been fast and slow at the same time.”
And on July 1, after a 34-day stay during her fourth and final cycle, Maddie was finished with her treatment and released to her home indefinitely. Barb summed up the milestone well.
“Five months of chemo and inpatient done. So freaking happy.”