Breakfast to honor seventh grader with cancer

If you go:
11th Annual Roman Barten Memorial Breakfast
Sunday, March 18, 2018
8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
New Prague KC Hall 
Cost: Free will donation. If unable to attend, donations may be made to the “Steven Odenthal Benefit Account” at Frandsen Bank and Trust, PO Box 110, Montgomery, MN 56069.
 
The days before Christmas are usually exciting ones for families. However for Ted and Tracy Odenthal of Heidelberg, last year’s holiday was not one they expected.
 
On December 22, their 12-year-old son, Steven, said he had a sore shoulder. They initially thought it was due to his passion for playing basketball, however, when he said there was a bump in his shoulder that hurt to the touch, they had a doctor check it out. 
 
A biopsy, and bone marrow and spinal puncture test uncovered the terrible news - Steven’s lump was on the right side of his chest, in front of his lung, and contained Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 2.
 
“It was unimaginable disablief,” said Tracy. “We couldn’t believe this was happening to a kid who was so active and in such good shape.”
 
After the doctors told him he had “the best of the worst kinds of cancer” he began to think about the future.
“I kept wondering what is going to happen to me,” Steven said. “I wondered how long it was going to take before I was done (healed).”
 
Over the last two and a half months, the Odenthal family has received community and school support through bracelet sales, specially designed t-shirts that feature #stevenstrong, and fundraising from Holy Redeemer School where he attends and Tri-City United Schools.
 
Another large fundraiser is this weekend. The Roman Barten Memorial Benefit Breakfast will take place on Sunday, March 18 at the New Prague Knights of Columbus Hall, 411 Fourth Ave. SW. from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
 
The Barten family of the New Prague area honors a child every year with a breakfast in the legacy of Roman Barten, a husband, father and grandfather, who taught his family to reach out to others. The breakfast is a free-will donation and will feature pancakes, sausages, cinnamon rolls and beverages.
 
Steven and his family appreciate all of the support they’ve received from the communities. 
 
“We have had so much support from this whole community and friends and family, that it is almost overwhelming,” Tracy wrote on the January 31 post of Steven’s CaringBridge page. “Everyday there is something new that someone has done to make things a little easier. All the kindness makes me cry everyday because it is so appreciated.”
Since his diagnosis, Steven and his family continue to fight the disease. This has involved countless days and nights at Children’s Hospital with multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation to kill the cancer cells and shrink the football-size mass.
 
See more in the print edition.
 

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