Fourth-grade Maryville student battling health conditions as community comes together to support her

MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Molly Rader is a fourth-grader at Coulter Grove Intermediate School in Maryville.

"She's just known around our school as a spunky, sassy, fun-loving, sweet little girl who loves school," said her principal, Dr. Ramona Best.

Molly is fighting for her health, battling multiple medical emergencies. Her mother, Amanda Rader, said Molly was flown from the East Tennessee Children's Hospital to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital on Dec. 16, 2023. She said Molly was in the PICU until Jan. 1, and now she's on the bone marrow transport floor where she's being treated for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, otherwise known as HLH.

Amanda said Molly's health seems to be trending in the right direction.

"She's doing a lot better, she's still considered critical, we have a long way to go," said Rader. "But she's getting a whole lot better, slowly. But surely, Molly does things that are on pace, and we're just kind of all along for the ride. So, all of her levels seem to be trending in the right direction. She will have to be here for at least a few more weeks because she did have an infection in her spinal fluid. So that does prolong the treatment. But hopefully, we'll be home before too terribly long."

On Friday, Molly's school organized a blood replacement drive to help replenish MEDIC's blood supply and lower hospital costs for Molly and her family.

"All the blood that's been donated is going to be transferred in credits to help offset any blood needed in the hospital," said Elyssa Hurley, Communications Coordinator at MEDIC Regional Blood Center.

School staff and Maryville residents stopped by to donate at the school from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.

"I saw it advertised and I thought, 'Such a worthy cause,'" said David Harig, a Maryville resident. "And Molly is a sweet little girl and I'd love to help out her family. It's totally awesome to see everybody come out and see the buses full. I think it's a wonderful thing. I just hope Molly gets well."

Rader says she's thankful the school recognized the need to help Molly and MEDIC.

"Molly has had to have a tremendous amount of blood products since she started going through this, which honestly, is not something we've had to do a lot in the past," said Rader. "She had open heart surgery when she was a baby. And she does have a pacemaker. She spent a lot of things going on medically. But never before have we needed as many blood products as we have with this particular crisis, I guess, that we've been going through. And to know that the community recognizes that and is willing to give back, not really just for Molly, but for everyone who finds themselves in this situation just means the world to us. And we're just very, very grateful."

Rader says she learned firsthand why replenishing the blood supply is so important.

"Especially during the holidays, there's always a big lull during the holidays, which I did not realize, but there's actually a shortage of blood over the holiday season," said Rader. "So we definitely need to replenish it. We actually ran into that at East Tennessee Children's Hospital, they did not have enough platelets. And it was about to postpone a very important procedure that she needed to have done until they could get their hands on more platelets. So it's very, very important."

On Sunday, a run will raise money to give to the Rader family. It's called Molly's Mile and there will be a 1-mile race at 1 p.m. and a 1-mile walk at 1:30 p.m.

Those who want to register can scan the QR code in the picture below, or sign up through the event's website.

"It's called Molly's Mile," said Best. "And it's kind of a play on words. So, it gets Molly's smile in there, because we love her smile. Maryville's a very active community and we like to stay healthy. And this is all about getting Molly back to her strong health. And so, we're sponsoring a fun run and actually a timed race, as well. And so registrations are still live where they can also just show up on Sunday and sign up for the race."

Rader said she's thankful for the Maryville community's support for Molly and the rest of the Rader family.

"It has been so overwhelming and humbling, and just a beautiful reminder of what it's like to live in East Tennessee," said Rader. "It's just been amazing for us as a family, we have a very large family. So we were splitting our time back and forth, we have five children. And so it's been kind of crazy to see people come together and want to support her and pray for us. And to do something to give back to the community through the blood drive is just wonderful. And it's just great. It makes us feel really, really loved."