The Forstner family is pictured together, left. Top left is TJ Forstner, and next to him is his wife, Brianna Forstner, holding their daughter Jovi. Far right is their son, Max, and their daughter, Evy, stands in front.

A little girl with a big smile has proved that sometimes, one courageous child is able to move an entire community.

Jovi Forstner came into the world a little over a year ago on Dec. 7, the third child of Madelia residents Brianna and TJ Forstner.

“With her being one, her personality is starting to shine through a little bit. She’s always really happy and smiley,” Brianna says. “If you didn’t really know what was going on with her, you wouldn’t be able to tell she was sick.” 

Brianna noticed something was not quite right in June of 2021. Issues which doctors initially attributed to an ear infection soon became something much more nefarious.

“She stopped moving from the waist down,” Brianna remembers.

Brianna found herself traveling all the way to Rochester with her tiny daughter to await a diagnosis from a team of doctors.

“They found a tumor,” Brianna recounts. “The next day, she had surgery. By the time she had the surgery, she was not moving from the neck down.” 

The tumor, which had protruded into Jovi’s spinal cord, was a symptom of Neuroblastoma.  

Neuroblastoma is a cancer which is often found in the adrenal glands, and most commonly affects children ages five or younger. It can require surgery and chemotherapy for treatment, the latter of which Jovi began, following her operation.

Meanwhile, Blue Earth resident Sue Scholtes was following Jovi’s journey on Facebook.

Sue has known the Forstner family for many years, starting from when Brianna worked as a counselor at the treatment center in Blue Earth.

“Back in May of 2013, I started doing daycare for Max (Jovi’s brother), and then, in 2015, Evy (Jovi’s sister) came along,” Sue says. She cared for both children for many years.

Sue and her husband, Rick, have also gotten to know Brianna and TJ through a local softball team and occasional camping trips near Madelia with the Forstners

“They’ve just been a part of the family,” Sue says, simply.

“My daughter, Amanda, showed me a (Facebook) post Brianna made about Jovi,” she remembers. “Right away, I said to myself, ‘We need to do something.'” 

Jovi’s treatments were moving rapidly. It was already Sept. 15 when Sue viewed Brianna’s update about Jovi’s first surgery.

Sue felt compelled to act fast.

“We were running out of time, getting close to Christmas, so we didn’t get too large,” Sue explains. “We decided to do a meal.”

She continues, “Both the (Blue Earth American) Legion and the (Blue Earth) Eagles made a donation to the group. Everybody brought desserts to go with the meal.” 

Sue was also able to book entertainment by local musician Brett Feist.

The event was carried out as planned on Friday, Nov. 5, at the Blue Earth American Legion.

“Everything we got went directly to the family,” Sue says. “We did contact Kwik Trip, and they gave us a $200 gift card. Driving back and forth to Rochester gets expensive.”

“I was amazed at the people who came together to help,” she remembers. “They dropped off foods and desserts, served, cleaned up. It was very heart-touching.” 

“One lady came in for two meals to go,” Sue recalls. “She left a check for $200. Another girl came in, and didn’t even want food, but just gave us $100.” 

“You don’t know these people, but it was stuff like that which was just amazing to me,” She concludes.

Sue had hoped that between the Legion donation and the meal, they might be able to raise between $3,500-$4,000 for the Forstner family.

“We actually made $7,440,” Sue shares. 

“It’s been overwhelming, the amount of support from everybody,” Brianna says. “We’ve gained a lot of friends down in Blue Earth. The fact that they did that, it makes us feel very lucky.”

“It is hard for us to accept help like that, but it’s very appreciated,” she admits.

Unfortunately, Jovi is still traversing the long road to recovery.

“It’s very hard,” Brianna says.

Though Jovi began to regain mobility following her first surgery, she needed to undergo another operation, this time to remove a tumor growing in her belly, in the fall.

“Wednesday (Dec. 15) we go up for our fifth round of chemo,” Brianna shares.

“Chemo has not been effective with stopping that tumor,” Brianna continues. “After this round, they’ll do more scans to measure again and see if this regimen is working. If it is, we’ll continue with six more rounds of chemo.” 

“If it’s not working, there’s going to have to be a more aggressive approach to try and get this tumor under control,” Brianna explains. “It includes surgery, which is kind of scary. The tumor on her spine is protected by all of the vital organs in her chest cavity.” 

Brianna continues, “Or, we’ll have to increase the intensity of chemo, which has a chance of long-lasting effects on her health and development.”

“I’m crossing my fingers for the next scan,” she concludes.

Despite it all, Jovi remains a happy little girl.

“She is always smiling, I can’t believe it,” Sue says. “She’s in a strange place with people poking and prodding her every day, and she’s smiling.”

“She has no idea how tough all of this is,” Sue adds.

“” has been what’s got us through,” Brianna laughs. “Even in the hospital, if we put that movie on, she lets the nurses work on her.” 

Jovi has captured many hearts, inspiring her daycare friends to create a T-shirt fundraiser in her honor, as well as a Go Fund Me page.

“I’ve never felt like I’ve had so much support in my life, but also felt so lonely,” Brianna says. “It’s hard to explain.” 

She continues, “It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced. Right now in this process, so much is unknown. It’s just been heartwarming to have this overflow of support.”

“In her short little life, so far she’s impacted a lot of people,” Brianna reflects, concluding, “We want to express our gratitude. I think the community should be recognized for that.”

“It was a community that all came together and helped, even people who didn’t know them (the Forstners) and didn’t know me. I was amazed,” Sue says.