Over 10 years after beating cancer, Chase Kemberling and his family are still giving back to other families fighting cancer and other illnesses.
For the 11th year in a row, “CHASE-ing a Cure,” a nonprofit headed by Chase’s mother Emily, hosted a toy drive benefiting kids at the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey.
Emily explained that for many families whose children are in cancer treatment, shopping at Christmas time can be daunting. The Ronald McDonald House allows parents and kids to “shop” for and wrap gifts without leaving the house.
The Kemberlings have been collecting donations for several weeks, continuing a tradition that began the year after Chase was diagnosed with cancer.
In October 2013, Emily took Chase to the hospital with what she thought was appendicitis. The family soon learned that Chase had Stage Four Burkitt’s lymphoma, and the whole family’s world was about to be turned upside down.
The next three months, the whole family stayed in the Hershey Children’s Hospital, where Chase went through six rounds of chemotherapy. By Jan. 14, he was in remission.
“It was hard, but everything happened so quickly,” said Emily, explaining that the cancer had quickly spread, creating tumors all over Chase’s body. “They had to hit it hard and hit it fast.”
She recalled the Ronald McDonald Room, where the family had breakfast every morning before she took her older son, Travis, to kindergarten.
She said a toy cart from the organization also took rounds around the children’s hospital to help the kids get through a scary time.
“That was one of the things that got Chase through being at the hospital,” said Emily, explaining that he was only able to go back home for very short periods during treatment.
Emily said Chase was still in the hospital when the family realized they wanted to give back once he was in remission.
“We were relieved, it was a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders,” Emily said of all the help her family received. “We will never be able to repay everyone who helped along the way.”
Since then, the Kemberling family has participated in numerous toy drives, raised over $30,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and fundraised for other organizations.
“We’re just happy that we can give back and pay it forward,” Emily explained. “We had that same experience of people paying it forward to us, and we just wanted to return that.”
Chase has been in remission since 2013, and is now a healthy ninth grader at Cedar Crest, playing football and baseball. His brother, 16, also plays football with Cedar Crest and baseball with a teeners club.
Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we’ll do our best to get back to you.
Free news isn’t cheap. If you value the journalism LebTown provides to the community, then help us make it sustainable by becoming a champion of local news. You can unlock additional coverage for the community by supporting our work with a one-time contribution, or joining as a monthly or annual member. You can cancel anytime.
More Top Stories
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
