Benefit to be held for Noreen Dykema’s niece

Editor’s Note: Violet Haak is the niece of Noreen and Curt Dykema, Lisbon.

A benefit will be held Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Herreid Community

Center, Herreid, N.D., to help defray the medical expenses of six-month-old Violet Haak.

The benefit will feature a pancake and sausage supper from 5 to 7 p.m., and an auction of donated items will begin at about 7 p.m. Supplemental funds will be provided by Campbell/McPherson Thrivent Chapter and matching funds by National Mutual Benefit Branch 99. 

Violet, daughter of Thomas and Cassie Haak, Hull, was diagnosed with cancer in both of her eyes when she was two months old, and she has been undergoing chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. It is rare to have Retinoblastoma in both eyes. The tumor in her left eye shrunk enough during treatment to be removed by laser treatment. She will have sight in that eye with glasses or contact lenses. Her right eye has seedlings which caused concern. She has had chemo applied directly to her right eye but the results of that are not known at press time. Her two sisters Grace, 3, and Sophia, 2, and her brother, Derek, 5, also could get Retinoblastoma as it is a genetic disease. So far, tests have shown that the other three children show no signs of the disease. They will be monitored every six months.

Donations for Violet may be sent to the Haak Benefit, Strasburg State Bank, P.O. Box 307, Strasburg, ND 58573.

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