FLUSHING, MI – Strong willed.
Head strong.
Loving and brave.
A fighter.
Those are some of the phrases Nikki Montney used to describe her 16-year-old daughter.
A junior at Flushing High School, Maddie Walker was diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal Large B-Cell Lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, on Oct. 8.
She has been receiving chemotherapy treatment at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. Her second round of six treatments started on Monday, Nov. 10 to reduce the large mass found in her chest.
It was during a recent hospital stay that the mother and daughter had a chance to meet Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and his family.
“Just with standing next to him, I was like I can’t believe I’m standing next to you,” Montney said. “This is crazy but they’re so down to earth.”
‘Completely heartbroken’
Walker developed a persistent cough that lasted for weeks and her face became swollen.
It was at that point Montney decided to take her daughter to the ER at McLaren Flint.
“Basically thought it was going to be lab work, a chest X-ray and breathing treatment and we would be coming home,” she said.
Following testing and genetic testing is when a large mass was discovered in her chest that’s pressing on her heart and lungs.
“I was there by myself. When they told me they found a mass on her chest x ray…um… I was completely broken,” said Montney of the Oct. 8 diagnosis. “I just had no idea what was even coming out of his mouth, the ER doctor.”
She gathered family at the hospital following the news.
“It was absolutely shocking,” Montney said. “It was just the most horrifying news I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”
Determination
Walker is a straight-A student, attending classes at Flushing High School as well as enrolled at Genesee Career Institute and Genesee Early College, with aspirations of going into the medical field.
She was also a volleyball player until her senior year when Walker decided she wanted to concentrate on her studies, Montney said.
“This kind of has put a little bit of a damper on those things,” Montney said.
Walker has undergone one round of chemotherapy and is starting the second of six rounds this week at the Ann Arbor hospital.
She was recently home for a week after spending 19 days in the hospital, followed by an unexpected stay after an infection was found in her intestines.
Her prognosis is good, with the family hanging their hats on the percentages that this isn’t a terminal illness and the tumor showing some decrease in size.
“She’s in the in the best place possible. She’s a fighter, she is shocked and loves all the support she is getting from her community,” Montney said. “She thought it was silly but then she thanked me for taking her (to the hospital). The oncology team even told my husband and I had we waited another week it could have been a totally different outcome.
“It’s not in her bone marrow, it’s not in her spinal fluid so that’s both very, very huge things for us.”
Montney said it wasn’t until they got home from the first round of chemotherapy that her daughter got sick to her stomach.
“She was very auto immuno-compromised,” Montney said. “We’ll see. This next round might knock her for a loop, but we don’t know. “We’ll see what happens. We just got to keep fighting.”
Community support
The family has leaned on each other support, but they have also received backup from the Flushing community.
Walker designed a T-shirt with a high school teacher to show support, with students at the high school, middle school, and Seymour Elementary School in Flushing –where she attended classes – wearing the shirts or something green on Monday, Nov. 10 as part of ‘Maddie Monday’ in the Genesee County district.
A coffee cart was done for Walker by high school teacher Sarah Polega for Walker, with proceeds donation to the family, and bracelets were made emblazoned with the phrase, ‘All my homies hate Gerald.’
“When we were in ICU, one of the nurses asked her if she was going to name her tumor and the first thing that came out of her mouth was Gerald,” said Montney. “It doesn’t mean anything, it’s not anybody she knows, she doesn’t know any Gerald’s.
“It’s just a name that was the first thing that came out of her mouth, and we went with it, so she’s going to kick Gerald’s a**.”
Special visitor
While speaking with an employee at Mott Children’s Hospital, Montney said they were asked if they are Lions fans.
“I’m like, well, yeah,” she said. “(The employee) goes Hutch comes up here a lot.”
Hutch is Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, and the family learned a short time later that he would be paying a visit to the pediatric oncology floor.
“It was his mom and his two sisters and their crew,” said Montney of the Oct. 8 meeting. “It was absolutely amazing. What a wonderful family, very down-to-earth. Hugged us, cried with me.
“He was very interested in Maddie’s story. They knew she was a fighter. His sisters absolutely grabbed hold of Maddie. They could just tell her spirit and her fight.”
Prior to Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders, Hutchinson carried with him a water jug that was a spin on Walker’s mantra of ‘Thug it out cancer.’
The jug read ‘Fight it out – Maddie.’
“A wonderful family. They visited every single person on the floor that day,” said Montney. “We were being discharged the next day (on Oct. 24). I got the call yesterday (Nov. 9) from the hospital that the Hutchinson family reached out to her and asked to honor Maddie today on his jug.”
Walker’s story went up Sunday night on the House of Hutch page.
“It was just a really great experience. It was very cool, very cool, very heartwarming that him and his family do so much for the patients on that floor, it’s amazing,” said Montney, with her daughter given a Hutch blanket, two beanies, and autographed her brother’s Hutchinson jersey. “It was very uplifting to know that… he’s such a great athlete but he’s an even better person.”
Thankful
Montney thanked Mott Children’s Hospital for her daughter’s care.
“The hospital is absolutely incredible. From the ER to the ICU to the pediatric oncology floor, until you’ve been on that floor, it is absolutely life changing,” she said. “We all have cancer. We are all fighting it in a different way. I’ve become friends with some of the parents for the short time we were there.
“We all know each other’s stories and that floor, a lot of people don’t know what goes on on that floor. They have 32 rooms on that floor and they’re always full. That’s 32 kids that have cancer and it’s crazy to think that and everybody is fighting a different battle.”
She also offered her thanks to Dr. Thompson at McLaren ER for being the one who helped discover what was taking place with her daughter.
“He even called me a week later to check on Maddie,” Montney said. “He was incredible.”
Montney also expressed her gratitude to Flushing schools and Genesee Career Institute for helping work with her daughter on schooling.
“It’s been such a great thing as a parent to know that the school, Flushing High School and GCI, wants to take care of my little girl,” she said. “She’s a very strong academic student. They know that and they see that, and they want to do what they can to help her keep moving forward.”
Walker has aspirations of going into the medical field in the future.
As a tribute to his stepdaughter, John Montney, Nikki’s husband and official for 38 years, and his refereeing crew at the state football semifinals and finals at Ford Field in Detroit this year will be wearing green pins in her honor.
Walker has a special goal in mind moving forward.
“April 17 is her 17th birthday,” John Montney said. “She will ring the bell (at the hospital) and be cancer free.”
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