Brenna's Banquet being planned

On March 16, 2016, two-year-old Brenna Michelle Rankin passed away at her home after a battle with cancer. Next month, a banquet will help raise money for a scholarship in her name.

Brenna’s mother, Sara Ford-Rankin said proceeds from the event, Brenna’s Banquet, will go to the Brenna Rankin Memorial Scholarship, available for any current student of the Risen Son Christian School.

Ford-Rankin further explained criteria for the scholarship recipient is not based around wage, but rather the student’s attitude, grades and willingness to learn. She wants the award to be a prestigious one, something a student has to earn. As for scholarship amount, she noted it pays for a full year’s tuition at the Risen Son school, so the amount of the scholarship depends on how much tuition is.

Brenna was born June 25, 2013. At 17 months old, her parents found out she had a rare form of brain cancer, which was also aggressive.

She had two tumors — one right above her brain stem, the other on her lower right lobe. “We were told she had about a 10-15 percent chance to beat it,” Ford-Rankin said.

Brenna went through three doses of low-intensity chemotherapy, three doses of high-intensity chemo, three stem cell transplants and 31 radiation treatments, and was considered NED — No Evidence of Disease.

Three months after the treatments, when they did Brenna’s scans, there were two new tumors. Because of the amount of chemotherapy she underwent already, any more could be fatal.

The cancer was so aggressive and there were no other treatment options, and doctors said it was best to just make Brenna comfortable.

“We prayed about it,” Ford-Rankin said, “and we talked with family members, and we decided to bring her home, keep her as comfortable as we could and let her lead as normal a life as she could until she passed away.”

Brenna was a girl who loved her dogs, her brother Raylan, football and going to church, which is one of the reasons the scholarship is for the Risen Son Christian School.

“Her favorite thing was dropping off her brother and picking him up at school,” Ford-Rankin said, “because then she got to see all the kids and she got to hang out with some of the teachers.” She was especially excited because she knew, approaching three years old, she would soon be attending pre-school herself.

“She was looking forward to starting school, so we thought what better way to remember her than try to provide something to help the school.”

Brenna’s Banquet will begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Risen Son Baptist Church gymnasium. The event is adults-only, semi-formal or formal attire, and ticket prices are $50 for singles and $75 for couples. Hors d’oeuvres and social hour will be 4:30-5:30 p.m., with dinner following. The menu includes prime rib, cubed potatoes, steamed vegetables, salad and a variety of cheesecake for dessert.