Maddie Muller was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just 8 years old.
Maddie, a seventh grader who lives in Lake Highlands, is an ovarian cancer survivor using her journey to raise awareness and bring hope to others facing the disease.
A routine wellness check was what led to her diagnosis several years ago, as she had absolutely no symptoms.
“I didn’t have cancer symptoms, but when I was 7, my doctor found out that I was under average height,” Maddie says. “We ran a lot of tests and stuff, and when I was 8 or so, we figured out I had cancer.”
Her short stature was related to being predisposed to ovarian cancer.
“Maddie fell off her own growth curve and stopped growing well,” says Maddie’s mother Jennifer. “Her regular pediatrician is amazing, and said, ‘You know, she’s thriving. She’s doing beautifully, but I’ve noticed her growth is not great. Do you want to work this up?’”
The surgery Maddie had was supposed to just be preventative, but during the surgery, they found out she had stage 2 ovarian cancer. Most of it was removed during the surgery, but she had to receive four rounds of chemotherapy afterward.
“Most treatments are significantly longer, but mine was more just to make sure nothing would come back or nothing was left,” Maddie says. “I was a completely healthy kid. In fact, both of my siblings had had minor birth problems and stuff, and I was born completely healthy. There was nothing.”
“It was just such a shock,” Jennifer says.
Going through this journey was difficult for Maddie and her parents. Jennifer says that although she works in the medical field as an OBGYN, there was plenty for her and her husband Brett to learn.
“There’s not a playbook,” Brett says. “Trying to get clarity on what could impact us in the future, and what things could, if anything, we do preventatively to prepare her for other challenges that are related to having ovaries removed at such a young age.”
Maddie fought through the typical chemotherapy challenges and side effects — nausea and thinning hair — which led to her shaving her head.
“Honestly, I am a much different person now than I was then, because it showed me that bad things can happen,” Maddie says. “Before that, much of my life had been very easy. I did well in school, I had friends, I had siblings and parents. There was always food on the table. I always had new clothes and toys and stuff to do.”
Photography by Amani Sodiq
After going through her journey, Maddie wants to help others. She is in the process of starting a nonprofit, Warriors Play Too.
“A thing for me that was really fun, I had this hoverboard go-kart thing, and it was just really fun to drive back and forth on the streets,” Maddie says. “And it was a great way to play with my friends, because it wasn’t like I would have been the best at riding a normal bike or a scooter or something like that, since I was nauseous and shaky.”
Maddie found herself being unable to participate in some of the activities her friends would do such as jumping on a trampoline, because she could not risk being injured.
“It was really fun to just go up and down the street with my friends. And I thought, what if I could do that same thing for other kids with childhood cancer?” Maddie says.
As part of the nonprofit, a kid could apply and then choose from a selection of toys.
“For little kids, we have the little kid bikes like the ones that you don’t have the pedal or anything, and then we have the nonelectric version of that, just to give them a fun way to be active and do stuff,” Maddie says.
“The thing is like, kids have skateboards, but you can’t do that,” Brett says. “Riding a bike is hard if you’re dizzy and you’re nauseous, right? And so really, the only way she could be out and enjoying time with her friends, really, was to be in that little sit-down electric go-kart.”
The Muller family is in the process of officially launching the nonprofit as they finalize the website and product list.
Maddie also participated in Runway for Hope, an annual fashion show benefiting ovarian cancer research.
“To see her go from being bald and so sick and so weak to now playing club soccer, thriving in school — it’s been amazing,” Jennifer says. “It was just an amazing turnaround.”
