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First responders uniting to help family of girl with rare cancer

Posted at 9:41 PM, Jun 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-20 21:41:26-04

SAUGATUCK, Mich. — A 7-year-old girl from Saugatuck Township with a rare incurable brain tumor is in the hospital.

The outcome for kids like Avery June, who has diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, isn’t good.

FOX 17 has covered Avery’s story before, during much happier times. Now she’s at Helen Devos Children’s Hospital.

Her fight hits home with the Saugatuck Township Fire Department, where her dad, Mike Betts, is a captain.

“We’ve had a lot of people call us, we’re fielding phone calls, people asking ‘what can they do?’ Right now, we’re in a holding pattern, waiting to see when and if she wakes up, how she’s going to be,” Saugatuck Township Fire Chief Greg Janik said.

Departments from across the state have reached out, asking what they can do to help. Right now, there’s no easy answer. Avery has a rare inoperable and incurable brain tumor, known as DIPG.

It usually proves fatal.

A prayer page has started for Avery and her family. The Saugatuck Township Fire Department is also collecting donations on their behalf.