Karinaval: Celebrating With Each Other, for Each Other

By KARINA MATOS

On June 14th at Hunting Field, many people came out to support Karina Moreira in her fight against cancer at the “Karinaval.” Moreira is a fourteen year old girl who lives in Boston, MA, but was born in Brazil. She had bone cancer, which was removed, but a while later she learned that she had cancer on her lungs, and the back of her leg. While the tumors on her lungs shrunk from chemotherapy, her leg was going to be amputated. Unfortunately, her cancer has spread, and all the money raised at the “Karinaval” will be donated in her name to the Dana Farber foundation.

The “Karinaval” was sponsored by the Malden Against Cancer Club, along with other clubs at Malden High School in her honor. Als,o several staff members of the Malden Public Schools sponsored many of the events. These events included a duck ponding fishing game, a real-life version of angry birds, walking around in giant hamster balls, outdoor laser tag, a video game truck, and many more. There were also many raffles, donated by multiple organizations for the event. A few were summer related raffles, and one was even a raffle for two tickets to a Boston Red Sox’s game and a dinner at the stadium.

Moreira was there herself at one point, playing the games and hanging around with her friends from MHS. Many MHS students, and former students, volunteered to run the activities or sell food at the concession stands. Principal Dana Brown said that “Karina is such a great girl, full of life and joy.” He is glad so many people came out to the event and supported Moreira and her family.

Even though the situation she is in is a hard one, Moreira continues to be a bright and upbeat person through it all. She believes strongly in her Christian faith, and it helps her through the rough times. Moreira also has a blog, Chic by Karina, and a youtube channel by the same name, where she shows girls different types of makeup looks or outfits to help empower young women, and show them you can be beautiful no matter what.

The foundation Moreria wants to donate the money raised from the “Karinaval” is the Dana Farber Institute. Recently, it was named Boston’s #1 Pediatric Cancer program and they are “honored to be recognized for the unique strengths of [their] joint program, which marries a world-class cancer institution with a world-class pediatric hospital,” which was said by David Williams, MD, chairman of hematology/oncology at Boston Children’s and associate chair of pediatric oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The “Karinaval” was a great event that gave many people an opportunity to show Moreria their support and have fun while doing it. Through the hard work and donations of many, it ended up being a great day for a great cause.

Click here to visit Karina Moreria’s blog, Chic by Karina!

“On June 14th at Hunting Field, many people came out to support Karina Moreira in her fight against cancer at the “Karinaval.””

From Karinaval, posted by The Blue & Gold on 6/16/2014 (13 items)