Car Club revs up for two-year old with rare form of cancer

December 12, 2015 at 3:48p.m.

CANFIELD

In many ways, Carmen Miller is like any other toddler. She loves animals, going for walks and playing outside.

But, in another important way Carmen, who turned 2 on Halloween, is exceedingly rare. She’s been diagnosed with giant cell gioblastoma, a highly malignant tumor that attacks the brain’s supportive glial cells. Glial cells surround neurons and insulate them.

A long scar runs across Carmen’s scalp. It’s a byproduct of more than nine hours of surgery to remove the softball-sized tumor from her brain.

Going forward, Carmen faces extensive chemotherapy, though she herself is not aware of it.

Carmen’s mother, Colleen, said she takes comfort in the fact that her only child doesn’t fully understand the medical ordeal.

“She doesn’t know she’s sick,” Colleen said. “When we go to the hospital, she doesn’t cry. We’re [my husband and I] the ones who are freaking out.”

When the Millers attended a banquet hosted on Friday night by the Mahoning Valley Olde Car Club at A La Carte Catering in Canfield, Carmen delighted in running around the Christmas tree. Following a round of treatment on Monday, however, Carmen may have to relearn how to walk, her mother said.

The car club presented a $2,300 check to the Miller family during the banquet, along with a $5,800 check to Hospice of the Valley. The club, which formed 37 years ago from a group of buddies who liked talking about and tinkering with antique cars, raises money for three area children each year. The club found the Millers, who are from Alliance, after a member chatted with Carmen’s father, Charlie, at a car show.