Andrew Maase, a 10-year-old boy from Derby, New York has had to grow up a lot faster than most children as he is currently facing his second round of treatment for brain cancer. His parents were given the awful news right before his birthday and didn’t know what to do.
“Somebody tell me how I am supposed to go home and look Andrew in the eye and tell him,” said Jennifer Maase, Andrew’s mom.
Andrew was going to have to endure a harder round of chemotherapy and a stem cell treatment. However, the awful news didn’t stop this brave boy from keeping a smile on his face.
“Andrew handled the news that he would be stuck in the hospital for a month about as well as you would expect from a 10-year-old,” said Maase. “But he rebounded in about 10 minutes and took a tour of the floor and saw the nice, spacious room and private bathroom and shower that he would be staying in. And he brightened considerably when I pointed out that we could bring his Xbox One from home and plug it into the t.v.”
It’s the little things in life that make Andrew happy, which is why all he wanted for his birthday last month were birthday cards from all over the world. His mother went on a mission to share his wish with family and friends to see what could be done and the result was fantastic.
“We came home to about 100 cards one day and he was a happy kid,” said Maase. “This was exactly the kind of happy therapy that he needed right now.”
But the cards didn’t stop coming after his birthday. Andrew now has 814 cards from all over the United States and other countries with more being mailed each day.
“I think we have most U.S. States covered, except Alaska, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama,” said Maase. “We’ve gotten cards from Lebanon, Ontario, British Columbia, St. Croix, England, Ireland, Slovenia, Israel, Hong Kong, Austria, Italy, Iceland, and Scotland. These are going to be very colorful maps when we are done making them.”
Maase recently brought maps to Roswell to hang on Andrew’s walls to mark where all the cards came from. Each day is a challenge, but Maase is so grateful for the community’s support in putting a smile on her son’s face. Not only have hundreds sent cards, many more have reached out to let Andrew know they are rooting for him. Andrew recently went on an ice cream date with Miss New York International and the Evans Police Department also stopped by with gifts and well wishes for Andrew.
“We can’t thank everyone enough,” said Maase.
If you would like to send an Andrew a card, you may mail it to:
Andrew Masse
1366 Sturgeon Point Road
Derby, NY, 14047
