On Thursday, Feb. 9, students and faculty of Columbus St. Andrew School gathered in front of the building to celebrate eighth-grader Audrey Wenzke’s victory over cancer with a bell-ringing ceremony.
Audrey was treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital where cancer patients ring a special bell to signify the end of treatment. Accordingly, St. Andrew arranged for the 14-year-old to ring the church’s bells while surrounded by her family and community.
“It was neat because everyone from my school was there to support me,” Audrey said of the event. As she emerged through the school doors with her class, the crowd began chanting her name, cheering and ringing small bells that had been distributed.
Audrey descended the steps with her peers who held a colorful sign reading “Ring the bell, Audrey.” She then joined her parents and three younger siblings at the middle of the crowd beside the stone statue of St. Andrew who wields the X-shaped cross on which the apostle was crucified.
When the chanting and applause died down, Audrey’s dad, Dr. Jeff Wenzke, addressed the community, thanking them for their support and praising his daughter for her strength.
“I just want everybody to look around,” he said. “I know we’re gathered here in celebration of Audrey, but really we’re here in celebration of all of us in the community. I think this is just truly amazing.
“We have been blown away by the support. … Every single one of you that (said) a prayer for Audrey, we felt it. … The reason we’re here today is because of that prayer that you said. We all want to thank you.”
Gesturing toward Audrey, he said, “This girl is amazing.”
Audrey then pressed a doorbell-type button that made the church bells ring. She also rang a bell her grandfather, who worked in sales, was given as a gift when he retired. The students and staff joined in, cheering and enthusiastically ringing their small bells.
Audrey’s diagnosis in September was primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, which is a type of cancer located in the upper chest.
Her treatment plan included six cycles of chemotherapy. Each cycle began with six days in the hospital followed by 15 days at home with a PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line inserted into her arm to receive medication.
“She doesn't like the hospital stays,” Audrey’s mom, Jen, wrote in an online journal in October. “She gets very bored and very lonely. … It's hard to find (friends) on the oncology floor because most of the time teens stay in their rooms and on their phones.”
Each time Audrey was able to come home from the hospital was a joyful event for the family. After her first round of six days in the hospital, Jen wrote, “All six of us are snuggled up together in the family room. Today is a good day!”
Audrey’s younger siblings are in the seventh, fifth and second grades, all at St. Andrew.
Audrey’s teachers ensured she was able to stay caught up in school by doing what Jen called “a modified version of what the kids in her class were doing.”
For example, if the students in school were “taking a test on a chapter of social studies, (Audrey) created a digital poster of the lesson.” Audrey’s language arts teacher allowed her to choose a book to read from home and do journal entries about it.
“The science teacher provided her science kits to do at home,” Jen said, “And (for) math, she did the essential lessons with (Jeff and me) and took online tests.”
Since then, as St. Andrew principal Joel Wichtman said in an email, “the St. Andrew School, Preschool and Parish communities have rallied in support of (her).”
The support has included multiple communal rosaries for Audrey’s healing, families decorating their yards with yellow ribbons in her honor and widespread purchase of shirts and sweatshirts reading “Oh so loved” that were designed to back Audrey.
But support has not only come from the St. Andrew community. Audrey’s mom, Jen, wrote in an online journal in September about taking Audrey to watch her fellow St. Andrew volleyball players compete against Westerville St. Paul School during her first cycle of chemotherapy.
“We decided to take Audrey to … cheer on St. Andrew and support her friends on both teams,” Jen said. “What we didn’t know is that the St. Paul coach, Nicole Smith, made shirts to support Audrey!
“(The St. Paul players) wore the shirts (during) warm-ups and (then) before the opening prayer, (they) gifted the St. Andrew team with shirts. After the prayer, the official held up a blue card, which in volleyball is given for sportsmanship.”
Additionally, when they first arrived at Columbus St. Timothy where the St. Paul vs. St. Andrew game was being played, the woman at the admissions desk was excited to meet Audrey, Jen said. The woman explained that her daughter’s sixth-grade class at St. Timothy School made cards with the second-grade class for Audrey. As it happened, Audrey had just read those cards that morning.
“Another amazing display of support and love from a school that she doesn’t go to!” Jen said.
When asked how the journey of battling cancer has impacted her faith, Audrey said, “It’s made me put more trust in God with my body and everything I do.”
In the online journal, Jen wrote that during Audrey’s treatment, “a dear, dear friend reminded me … (that) the name Audrey means ‘noble strength.’” She described how her daughter has handled her cancer treatments with such strength by, for example, staying calm “when she has to get pricked again … (taking) a deep breath, and (saying), ‘Let’s go!’”
Of the spiritual component of walking with her daughter through cancer, Jen, who works as the parish secretary at St. Andrew, said, “The Holy Spirit was evident in each step.”
Audrey will return to school at St. Andrew to complete her eighth-grade year following spring break.
