McKenna Riebkes will be the Kid Captain for Tuesday’s Jag-Hawk soccer games at Ankeny Centennial. She will be honored before the girls’ game at 6 p.m.
McKenna, a Pinky Swear All Star, lives in Ankeny with her mom (Jaime), her dad (Addison) and her brother (Ashton). She is a 5-year-old girl who was diagnosed with Stage 3 neuroblastoma right before her third birthday.
McKenna has undergone chemo, surgery, two stem cell transplants and radiation. She now has chronic kidney disease from the harsh cancer treatments and will eventually need a kidney transplant.
McKenna completed treatment 18 months ago. She is excited to begin kindergarten in the fall.
Pinky Swear stepped up and helped the Riebkes family financially when Jaime needed to resign from her job to care for McKenna. The organization has helped not only the Riebkes family but many others as well.
Prior to the boys’ game at 7:30 p.m., a donation will be made to the Iowa chapter of the Pinky Swear Foundation. The foundation helps kids with cancer and their families by giving them financial and emotional support. In 2018 they helped almost 100 families in Iowa by providing stable housing, payments for bills, and reliable transportation.
Pinky Swear partners with Blank Children’s Hospital and the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. They appreciate the community’s support to help give these families a safety net so they can focus on what’s important–caring for their children with cancer.
Mary Mendhall-Core is the Iowa Director and will be representing Pinky Swear at the games. She will be presented a check from the Ankeny community.
Wee’s Tees graciously helped organize, design and create the Ankeny Derby t-shirts for the cancer awareness games. These t-shirts assist in raising proceeds for the Des Moines chapter of Pinky Swear. Wee’s Tees has generously donated $973 in support of the fundraising efforts.
Former Ankeny High School boys’ soccer parent Kristina Nurre hosted an online Stella and Dot jewelry fundraising event to assist the Ankeny Derby in raising proceeds for Pinky Swear. She has generously donated $300 to the fundraising effort.
Thank you to all the families who participated in both of these fundraising events.
More information on Pinky Swear can be found here: https://www.pinkyswear.org/programs-overview