“Reason this person is a Gold Ribbon Hero: Madi stood gave up typically fun moments of her senior year of high school to travel back and forth across the country to help her sister and brother-in-law care for her niece, Estelle, first in El Paso, Texas and later in Boston, Massachusetts.  Estelle was diagnosed with AT/RT a few months before her third birthday and fought fearlessly for nearly a year before gaining her angel wings. Madi worked hard to maintain good grades, apply to colleges, and love on her niece and (then infant) nephew with every bit of energy she had in her. Auntie Madi truly inspires me as she pushes on towards a nursing degree, with plans to work with pediatric oncology patients one day so she can brighten the lives of more children. She displays a love for all people she meets but no one will ever make her light up quite like her first niece did. The two formed a special connection from the moment Estelle was born and Madi seemed to go to the ends of the Earth in search of new ways to entertain Estelle in the hospital and at home. Madi inspires everyone around her to be the best that they can be and to do everything one can to brighten the day of another person.” – Emily D