Maggie DeVries was a spirited kindergartner who loved to dance, practice gymnastics and proudly cheer for the Frankfort Falcons, her mother, Erin DeVries, recalls. But at just 5-years-old in 2022, Maggie’s life took a turn when she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
After the diagnosis, DeVries said she was told Maggie had less than a year to live, based on life expectancy rates for children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an aggressive and inoperable brain cancer located in the brainstem. Only about 10% of children survive two years post-diagnosis, and just 2% live for five years.
“We understood the science, like a miracle would be amazing and Maggie being able to grow up would be amazing, but the research isn’t there, and realistically Maggie was going to die,” DeVries said. “So we just tried to have as many good days as we could.”
Still, hospital visits were frequent and the medical costs quickly piled up.
Unsure if insurance would cover all of Maggie’s medical bills, her occupational therapist, Kayla Freeman, connected the family with Mike Bacon, the owner of Arrowhead Ales Brewing Company in New Lenox, who agreed to host a fundraiser.
Months later, Maggie was involved in brewing a beer called Keepin’ it Teal, inspired by her favorite color.
“It was basically like, let’s not do a fundraiser, let’s do a beer and then have a launch party and just make it like this really big thing,” DeVries said. “They let Maggie have creative control. So she wanted it to be teal.”
The can design includes a lot of Maggie’s favorite things.
“There’s like an ice cream and cotton candy, and there’s a homeless cat with a love for Maggie sign on it that we love,” DeVries said.
DeVries said Maggie not only designed the beer and selected its flavor, blue raspberry and lemon, but also worked with Bacon at Arrowhead Ales to brew it.
“She loved it, and it was very funny to listen to her tell people that she made a beer and that she was having a beer party,” DeVries said.
Bacon said the launch party in September 2022 was a success, raising more than $10,000 for Maggie and her family.
For Freeman, it was a way to help Maggie beyond her role as an occupational therapist.
“It was a way just to be with the family and put all that aside and just have fun, but do it with Maggie and make something that could be meaningful, could spread awareness about her name and her diagnosis of DIPG,” Freeman said.
But shortly after the launch of Keepin’ it Teal, DeVries said they learned Maggie’s cancer had spread to another part of her brain and her spine. In December, Maggie, who was now 6, died.
DeVries said they didn’t plan to continue fundraising, but the following year Bacon received a call from Freeman asking if he wanted to brew the beer again and donate a portion of the proceeds to an organization of DeVries’ choice. In 2023, she chose Project Fire Buddies, a group of firefighters who offer support to children battling critical illnesses that helped Maggie’s family before her death.
That year, Bacon donated a portion of Keepin’ it Teal can sales, about $1,000, to the organization.
Bacon said they decided to enhance the initiative this year. Instead of just donating a portion of the can sales from Maggie’s beer, Arrowhead Ales also hosted a Dine and Donate weekend Oct. 26 and 27. Guests who mentioned “Hops for Maggie” or even just her name or a fact about her had 10% of their tab donated to the Chad Tough Defeat DIPG Foundation, which funds research to find a cure for DIPG.
For Bacon, continuing the fundraiser is a way to keep Maggie’s memory alive.
“It seemed like this was really important to (Erin DeVries) as a way to keep Maggie in our thoughts and still doing something positive and giving in her name,” he said.
DeVries said she is grateful for those who continue to support Maggie’s memory, even after her death.
“We’re just grateful because hearing Maggie’s name is a wonderful thing, and getting to tell stories about her is really good for our grief,” DeVries said. “It’s very special, the community that Maggie left behind, and that we still get to experience.”
smoilanen@chicagotribune.com
