FIU student who’s battling brain cancer and helping kids with cancer prepares to graduate
Whenever 22-year-old Bianca Maderal visits the hospital for her chemotherapy infusions, she spends most of her time with kids who, like her, battle cancer, even if some of them have yet to learn the c-word.
She plays jenga and crafts Pinterest projects with the older ones, and she cuddles with the tiny toddlers as the medicine enters their bodies through their catheters. If any of them asks if she wants to watch a movie with them, like a boy did recently with the Minions, her answer is “Duh! Yes, of course.”
“I love seeing their eyes light up,” she said. “Their smiles mean the world to me.”
Maderal was diagnosed at age 18 with one of the rarest and most aggressive forms of brain cancer, which is usually found in people aged 30 to 50. She is already an adult, but she chooses to go to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami because she gets to share moments like these with the children.
There, she shows the young patients little lessons, like needles not being as scary as they look by allowing the nurse to put hers in first. But she also gets to pass on greater teachings: She shows them achieving their dreams is still possible despite their illness.
On Sunday night, Maderal will graduate from Florida International University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a milestone in her journey toward becoming a pediatric oncologist and a clear reminder to cancer patients everywhere that they can also achieve their goals.
Not only will she have done it a semester early, but also while managing her own nonprofit called Fight like a Kid.
“I want someone to look at me and say, ‘because of you I didn’t give up,’” Maderal said.
‘I’m so doing this’
Maderal’s life took a 180-degree turn when she had a first-time seizure during Spanish class her senior year of high school.
Doctors discovered eight tumors in her brain after an MRI. Shortly after that, on Dec. 29, 2015, she got her diagnosis and moved to Baltimore, Maryland, with her mom to get chemotherapy and radiation at Johns Hopkins Hospital for two months.
While there, one day, a nurse delivered a purple care package and explained a former patient had sent it. Maderal opened it and found a hat, some cards, a water bottle and word puzzles, among other items.
Immediately, Maderal, who had lost about half of her hair and a lot of weight, turned to her mother and told her: “I am so doing this!”
In the following weeks, while attending her classes and filing her homework virtually, Maderal researched everything she could about creating her own organization, which she eventually baptized as “Fight as a Kid.”
She named it that, she said, because she has personally seen the difference between adults, who often face the disease full of resignation, and children, who without fail turn any hospital room into a playground and never stop smiling, even those who suffer most, like a young girl who lost an eye due to the intensity of the treatment.
Maderal also designed a yellow logo for it to symbolize the battle against childhood cancer, and defined its objectives: raise awareness about childhood cancer, raise funds for scientific research and provide support to all those affected by the disease.
Last July, her organization turned three years old.
Maderal now sends packages similar to the one she received in Maryland to patients across the country. She packs the gray bags with supplies, including a t-shirt, a lucky key chain, toys, Kleenex tissues and positive notes.
Frequently, relatives send Maderal videos of children unpacking their gifts and she gets to witness the joy she brings to them. Sometimes the patients themselves message her on Instagram or email her, thanking her and begging her to send a similar package to their hospital friends.
To finance the products and their shipping, Maderal sells her merchandise and often holds fundraising events, such as painting nights. In the future, she said she would like to hold larger events, such as galas to add up millions of dollars and donate them to institutions researching the cure for cancer.
Every December, Maderal dresses up as one of Santa Claus’s elves and organizes a Christmas party at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. In the weeks leading up to it, she coordinates with different dancing studios and other volunteer centers to hold toy drives.
She then lines up all of the toys at the hospital’s lobby and hands out a Christmas stocking to each kid so they can use it as a shopping bag and grab all the toys they want. This year, the event will take place next Wednesday, and she is no longer accepting toys, but said those interested can donate on the website.
Maderal has already defeated seven of her eight tumors, but although her brain will look a little like it did before her seizure, she will never be the same again.
‘She’s like a little firecracker’
Maderal always knew that when she grew up, she wanted to make a living as a doctor, but it wasn’t until she was diagnosed with cancer that she decided she would become an oncologist. Since then, she has been working hard. Each summer, she implores her own doctors to allow her to observe what they do and take notes.
After graduating from Coral Reef High School, Maderal attended Miami Dade College for two years. She obtained her associate’s degree and applied to transfer to FIU. Before her diagnosis, the young woman planned to go away to the University of Central Florida, but she was forced to change her plans.
It was at FIU that she sat in front of Adrienne Yuen, a senior academic advisor at the university, and confessed one day that she was interested in taking some business classes as she led her own nonprofit organization.
“I had never heard of a student doing that,” said Yuen. “She was not assigned as one of my students, but I immediately said ‘I want to steal her away’”.
“She was impressive the first day I met her and she still is,” Yuen said.
It was not until later that Yuen discovered that Maderal had cancer and immediately tried to help her. Little by little, the counselor learned about the challenges of Maderal’s disease, like not being able to take night classes because she’s exhausted after her hospital trips.
Similarly to Yuen, all of her FIU professors showed sympathy toward Maderal. They understood her situation and at the same time have respected her desire that they don’t make it any easier for her than for her colleagues, Maderal said.
“FIU has provided me an environment where I can use my strengths and skills not only to grow as a student, but as an individual,” Maderal said.
And so it will continue. In January, Maderal will return to FIU to pursue a science degree and then a master’s degree in hopes of becoming a physician’s assistant. She said she will eventually apply to medical school.
“I tell other pre-med students, and they laugh at me, but I’m so excited to jump into the chemistry class,” Maderal said.
Bianca’s mother, Grace Maderal, said she believes her daughter is ready for her next step and that thinking about it makes her heart overflow with happiness.
“I am super proud of her and all of her dedication the faith she has in God,” Grace said. “She’s a go-getter. She’s like a little firecracker.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 5:24 PM.
