After recovering from rare bone cancer, Madi Eikenberry is leading Rock Falls softball at the plate
Rock Falls’ Madi Eikenberry was nearing the end of her eighth grade year in 2024 when she discovered a lump on one of her ribs. A trip to the doctor led to several more visits, tests and a biopsy. It was cancer.
The lump was diagnosed as a bone tumor known as Ewing sarcoma, a rare and aggressive type of cancer that forms in the bones and surrounding tissues. “I couldn’t go into summer softball. It was devastating,” Eikenberry said.
“It was definitely really tough news. ” What came next included months of chemotherapy, healing, surgery, more recovery and more chemotherapy. She spent nearly 100 days at Rush University Children’s Hospital in Chicago before returning home to rest before an additional surgery.
In May of 2025, she got to return home the day before her 15th birthday. Not long after she was given the all-clear. She could finally ring the bell to signal the end of her treatment.
“It was very relieving,” Eikenberry said. “I was just so grateful and I was so happy with all my friends and I celebrated. It was just relieving knowing how much I fought and how much I missed just to know that things might be OK and everything might work out.