About Mia Maynes

Mia was a smart, loving, sweet, funny, sassy, and the happiest little girl whose 13 months of laughter and love made for a lifetime well spent. Mia was full of life and loved being read to every day, spending time outside, and taking baths. Mia was an animal lover and found a best friend in her kitten, Martin. Everywhere Mia went - Martin tagged along. It was not an uncommon sight to see Mia being pushed around in her stroller with a Kitty riding along with her. She was fun-loving and spent all hours playing with her toys. She especially loved riding her pink unicorn around the living room and playing with her Little Tikes kitchen set. Beyond playing, Mia’s favorite hobby was eating. She absolutely loved cheese curds, turkey and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate. Mia never came across a food she didn’t like, except for bananas. She loved her cartoons, particularly Puppy Dog Pals, Tots, and Bluey. Mia would stop everything she was doing to dance and try to sing along to the cartoon’s theme songs when they came on. Mia was a very expressive little girl and no one had to question what was going through her mind. She was able to say “ma-ma”; “da-da”; “kit-kit”; “pup-pup”; “no”; “hey”; “hi”; “go”; “bye”; “yay”; and “all done”. If you asked her how old she was, she would hold up 1 finger for “one”.

Mia had never been sick a day in her life and was perfectly healthy until she wasn’t. On Thanksgiving Day of 2020, Mia’s grandmother felt a very slight, odd texture on Mia’s right cheek that was not present days prior. That minor texture turned out to be a tumor. On December 6, 2020, Mia was diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk N-Myc Amplified Neuroblastoma. Mia displayed absolutely no symptoms of having cancer and you would have never guessed she was sick. Mia very unexpectedly and suddenly passed away on December 20, 2020 after receiving her first 2 doses of chemotherapy.

Mia was an example of good in the world. The world was a better place with her in it. Mia’s family misses her beyond words. They will continue to cherish Mia’s memory until they can be together once again. Her family believes research is essential to saving lives and that children like Mia deserve better treatment options. They support Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and hope to prevent other parents from going through what their family has. No more children should be lost to cancer. Children deserve better than 3.97% of funding.