Inspiration for #HarperStrong passes away; here’s how to help her nonprofit
Belleville High School student Harper Mathis, who inspired family, friends and complete strangers with her courage throughout a multi-year battle with brain cancer, passed away early Monday morning.
Harper Mathis’s courage and dogged determination to give back — even when cancer was ravaging her body — will never be forgotten throughout the Belleville community and beyond.
Harper, a freshman at Belleville High School, passed away Monday morning after a multi-year battle with Medulloblastoma.
She is the inspiration behind HarperStrong.org, a nonprofit that has helped collect toys for seriously-ill children who are hospitalized at CS Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor and Children’s Hospital of Detroit since 2021.
If you would like to donate to HarperStrong.org, click here.
The idea for Harper Strong was born in 2020 when Harper, who was receiving treatment in New York City through Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, was aided by Candlelighters, a New York City organization that provided the Mathis family with support.
She brightened sick kids’ lives with toy drives
“Harper was able to return that kindness, by way of donating toys to the Ronald McDonald House and Candlelighters,” a passage on HarperStrong.org explains.
On April 27, Belleville High School hosted an honorary Harper Strong soccer game, which celebrated Harper’s remarkable resilience.
Prior to the game, Harper was pushed in a wheelchair by her sister Payton, a senior on the Tigers’ varsity soccer team, and assisted to her feet to deliver a ceremonial kick-off.
“We are forever grateful for moments like this,” her parents, Justin and Shellie, shared on the Belleville soccer team’s Facebook page the day of the game.
Harper was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma in July of 2020.
Good news, then bad
Following close to two years of aggressive treatments, Harper received a clear MRI in early-2022. However, weeks later, a routine MRI revealed the cancer had returned to another part of Harper’s brain.
The relapse only made Harper fight harder, inspiring friends, family and complete strangers.
In 2021, thanks to the nonprofit Vs. Cancer, an organization that pairs children battling cancer with college athletic teams, Harper was befriended by the Albion men’s lacrosse team.
Harper and her family developed a close friendship with members of the team, who corresponded with her on a regular basis.
Surprise visit from college athletes
Shortly after Harper relapsed in 2022, the entire team showed up at Harper’s house to lift her spirits.
Prior to one Albion game, Harper surprised the team and delivered an encouraging pre-game pep talk.
Throughout her all-too-short life, Harper Mathis was a difference-maker who inspired so many people.
May she rest in peace.
