WASHINGTON — Life is short, so make the most of yours.
That’s the message from an extraordinary little Fairfax County, Virginia, girl who’s fighting a rare disease.
“I just try to look at the brighter side of things,” said 11-year-old Sadie Murata, who loves ladybugs so much that many people call her “Sadiebug.”
“Sadie has what’s called rhabdomyosarcoma. It’s a very rare form of pediatric cancer,” says Sadie’s mom, Jennifer Murata. “It basically manifests itself as a tumor somewhere inside the body. Hers was in her abdomen.”
Sadie was first diagnosed with the disease as a kindergartner and appeared to beat it, but she relapsed last year.
Next week, she travels to Philadelphia to start proton radiation therapy.
On Tuesday, she returned to her 6th grade class at Laurel Ridge Elementary School for the first time since September to ask her fellow students to make bucket lists.
“We really want everybody to really consider living every day to the fullest,” says Jennifer Murata.
The kids were given little metal buckets, colorful slips of paper and clothespins. Each child wrote ten goals and clipped them to the side of their bucket.
Sadie’s bucket list included short term goals like going swimming again, and finishing a book she’s writing.
She also had a long-term goal: “I would like to be a pediatric oncologist once I grow up.”
Other students shared their bucket lists with WTOP.
“I’d like to pass my math SOL this year, I want to go to Africa and become a big game vet, go to Paris, and see a cheetah in real life,” said 11-year-old Julie Brinkley.
Eleven-year-old Declan Smith’s list of goals ranged from funny to serious. He wants to win multiple eating contests, but also wants to make it to an Ivy League college.
Another 11-year-old, Randy Flores, had a goal inspired by Sadie.
“To cure cancer, so every healthy person doesn’t get cancer anymore,” he said.
The day was made possible in part by The Truth 365, a campaign that supports kids with cancer and raises awareness about their fight.
