Zach and Dani Boyea set out from their Green Bay porch with $1,000 already pledged on GoFundMe and a goal that would take them two full days to reach: walking 41 miles to Sturgeon Bay to raise money and awareness for their niece Clarena, who was diagnosed with a rare form of high-risk neuroblastoma at just seven months old. By the time they finished, the couple had raised more than $2,000 for her family.
The walk traced a route across Wisconsin from Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay, according to WBAY. Zach and Dani, who both work as painters and recently helped restore a historic church in Pulaski, chose the long walk as their own way of doing something for Clarena's family during an incredibly difficult stretch. Zach said he'd long held a personal goal of taking a long-distance walk with his wife, and possibly with his children someday, and this trip became the occasion to finally do it.
A Baby's Diagnosis Upends a Family
Clarena lives in Green Bay, while her parents have been spending time near Milwaukee, where she is being treated at Children's Hospital, according to an earlier report from Fox 11. That report also said Dani relayed what doctors had told the family: that Clarena had only a 50% chance of living to see her fifth birthday. The station noted the couple had set up a fundraiser called “Miles for Clarena” and were collecting donations through a GoFundMe page ahead of the walk.
Fox 11's report said the pair had planned to finish their walk in Sturgeon Bay sometime between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on a Tuesday. Clarena's family, who has been navigating what they describe as an uncertain journey, has asked for prayers and support, and says it hopes to keep sharing her story as she continues treatment.
What High-Risk Neuroblastoma Treatment Looks Like
Neuroblastoma is a cancer that most often appears in infants and young children, and outcomes can vary widely depending on how advanced the disease is at diagnosis. Broad population data from the National Cancer Institute shows that five-year survival rates for the disease climbed between 1975 and 2020, rising from 86% to 93% for children younger than one and from 34% to 83% for children aged 1 to 14, according to cancer.gov. Those figures reflect general trends across patients and are not a prognosis for any individual child, including Clarena.
Separately, the National Cancer Institute has reported on research into treatments for the most advanced stage of the disease. A study highlighted in a 2022 blog post found that after five years, the majority of participants were still alive and free of tumor growth or recurrence, a group that included a subset of patients 18 months and older whose cancer was classified as stage 4, per the same cancer.gov account. For the Boyea family, the day-to-day reality remains the uncertain path described by Clarena's parents, paired now with a wave of community support sparked by a 41-mile walk across Wisconsin.
