Ice cream fundraiser to benefit girl with cancer

Big Dipper Ice Cream will hold a fundraiser for McLain Thornquist, an 8-year-old girl with a rare form of bone cancer, from noon to 8 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Monday, Feb. 14. Big Dipper will donate 50 percent of the proceeds to the family of McLain, who is suffering from Ewing sarcoma.

McLain started third grade at Hawthorne Elementary this year with no signs of trouble until a few months into the school year. Her arm started to hurt to the point where she couldn’t attend school. Doctors eventually concluded that a mass on McLain’s arm was cancer.

The cancer isn’t isolated and has moved into in her lungs, but her mother, Cynthia, said doctors in Helena and in Salt Lake City have given McLain a good prognosis. After the surgery to remove the mass on her arm, McLain is expected to have more rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. The fundraiser will be at the ice cream shop at 58 N. Last Chance Gulch, on the Walking Mall at the corner of Sixth Avenue.