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Sarah Alward, 6, had lunch with Cinderella during a visit to Disney World sponsored by the Make A Wish Foundation. Sarah recently was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder. Submitted photoClick to enlarge

MADISON TWP. — At first, Joey Alward admits, his pride wouldn't allow him to accept the assistance.

When news spread that Joey and Kim Alward's 6-year-old daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder, and faced a serious surgery, the Madison community, their church family, and friends and relatives showed their "overwhelming" support, he said.

People sent cards, prepared meals, planned a benefit and called so much the family had to add minutes to its cell phone plan and write an Internet diary with weekly updates.

At the end of May, the Alward family — Joey, Kim and their three children, Logan, 9, Sarah and Ava, 23 months — were sent to Orlando, Fla., by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

For one week, seven glorious days of dressing up as a princess, Sarah could forget about her brain disorder.

Now, Joey Alward said, he realizes the support is for his daughter, not him.

"We never asked for anything," he said. "They have been called to do it."

His wife of 11 years added: "We try to help others now. We've been blessed and we want to bless somebody else."

Family keeps faith as they hope for a miracle

The Alwards were told their 6-year-old daughter, Sarah — whose seizures began the day she was baptized — either had a viral infection, cortical dysplasia, or a brain tumor.

In a perfect world, Sarah Alward, a first-grader at Madison Elementary School with the maturity of a high school senior, would have been diagnosed with a viral infection, prescribed medication that eliminated the seizures, and in a few months, been back in school, cheerleading, jumping on a trampoline, swimming in a pool.

You know, being a kid again.

But fate knows no age, no gender, no race. It discriminates against no one.

"It up and hits you," said Kim Alward, Sarah's mother. "There is no explanation why."

Sarah, stuck more than a pin cushion the last few months, has been in and out of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center numerous times since her first seizure Feb. 10, 2008, the day she was baptized at Breiel Boulevard First Church of God.

Each test was followed by another test. One of the exams showed an "abnormality" in her brain.

Then, "out of the blue," her mother said, came the worst possible news: Sarah Elizabeth Alward had Rasmussen's Encephalitis, an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself.

The disease starts at one site in one brain hemisphere and spreads to adjoining areas on the same side. Curiously, it does not spread to the other hemisphere.

Because of the diagnosis, Sarah — the entire Alward family, really — faces the most serious test.

Sometime within the next two weeks, possibly sooner, Sarah will have a hemispherectomy. Surgeons will disconnect the left hemisphere of her brain.

At this point, every parent reading this is shaking their head, thinking of their kid and repeating, "Surgeons will disconnect the left hemisphere of her brain."

Joey Alward, cuddling his daughter on the couch, said quietly: "It's hard to get your hands around it. I mean, it's hard to think about them removing half of your daughter's brain."

With that, Sarah, wrapped in her Hannah Montana blanket, grabbed a Disney DVD — the one where kids don't need brain surgery — and walked into her bedroom.

"It's hard on her," her mother said. "We have talked to her about it, and the doctors explained what's going to happen."

The doctors can't know for sure. The family has been told that Sarah probably will be temporarily paralyzed on her right side and be unable to communicate following the surgery. The use of her right hand may never return.

"She's losing her childhood," her mother said. "She can't spend the night, she can't ..."

No wonder the Alwards are leaning on their faith.

"It happened for a reason," her mother said. She called Sarah "a fighter" and said "God made her that way."

Sarah's father added: "We don't know the reason. We never will. He must have a plan."

Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

What: Carnival-style family benefit event

When: 4 to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 12

Where: Kingdom Sports Center, Franklin

Cost: Tickets are $20 per family; $10 per individual

Info: Call Brandi Crimm (513) 312-7490 or Jenny Childers (513) 420-9585

Proclamation: The Madison Twp. Trustees proclaimed July 12 as "Sarah Alward Day" at its meeting Wednesday, June 18