Church's pumpkin sale to help little girl with tumor
Tue, Oct 14, 2008 
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BY MARK BROOKY
mbrooky@grandhaventribune.com
This year's pumpkin sales at St. John's Lutheran Church and School will be going to help a little girl suffering from a deadly disease.
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The fifth annual Pumpkin Patch at the church, 527 Taylor Ave., opened for business this past weekend. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are available for sale starting at 50-cents each through Oct. 30, or when they run out.
Proceeds from the event will be donated to the family of Shaelin Hase, a baptized member of St. John's Lutheran Church (her grandparents are members) and the daughter of Justin and Janalee Holt of Twin Lake. It will help offset Shaelin's mounting medical bills related to cancer treatments.
Shaelin has been battling a rare form of digestive cancer — called familial adenomatous polyposis, or FAP — since age 2. She had a complete colectomy (removal of the colon, large intestine and appendix, and a portion of the small intestine) at age 4, and an internal "J" pouch was created out her remaining small intestine.
The family said Shaelin was doing fine until this past May when a large mass was found on the right side of her abdomen, and she was diagnosed with a rare tumor. Shaelin, now 9, has since been on experimental medications to try to stunt the tumor's growth.
"Unfortunately, in the last four months, her tumors have grown over 22 percent and we are looking at a less than two-year expectancy," said Janalee Holt. "We pray for a miracle every day and thank God that her tumors are painless. ... We cherish every moment that we have with her and are honored to have been given the past nine long, beautiful, memorable years."
Shaelin has a younger sister, Tristin, 2; and a brother, Adrin, 1.
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St. John's Lutheran School Administrator Laura Harvey said last year's Pumpkin Patch sales raised $3,055, which was down by around $2,000 from the previous years — "but weather determines if people come out or not."
St. John's Lutheran Church members and school families, as well as the church's youth group, staff the Pumpkin Patch. Indian corn, corn stalks and many unusually shaped gourds are for sale along with piles of pumpkins.
It is open from 2:30 p.m. to dusk Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to dusk on Saturdays and Sundays.
For more information, call the St. John's Lutheran School office at 842-0260.
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