She loved to dance

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Release date: July 2, 2012
She loved to dance
By Julian Emerson
Leader-Telegram staff
When Madeline Butterworth died unexpectedly from an apparent brain aneurysm at the beginning of this year,
it plunged her family into a grief difficult to comprehend and spurred a sadness for many others who knew the
5-year-old girl and her family.
Since then, Maddy’s family and friends have tried their best to deal with the loss of the happy, familyoriented
girl known for her big smile and affinity for singing and dancing. It hasn’t been easy. Maddy’s parents, Lee and
Christy Butterworth, her 3-yearold brother, Cooper, and others continue to struggle with the loss.
“It’s tough, it’s real tough,” Maddy’s grandmother Carole Hoff said, tears welling in her eyes. “To lose a young
child like Maddy, it leaves a hole in your life.”
Now, Hoff, Christy’s mother, is turning that loss into a positive. She has started a fund titled Maddy Moments
that will be used to pay for dance lessons for Chippewa Valley children dealing with medical difficulties or
experiencing emotional trauma or conflict.
The effort is a way to preserve the giving, performance- oriented spirit of her granddaughter, Hoff said.
“I want to keep (Maddy’s) memory alive,” Hoff, of Chippewa Falls, said.
Maddy Moments
On Jan. 3, Maddy and her kindergarten classmates returned to Locust Lane Elementary School in Eau Claire
after Christmas vacation. At the close of the school day, Maddy, who attended the afterschool program,
complained of a headache.
A short time later teachers noticed Maddy didn’t seem normal. They called Christy to notify her that Maddy
wasn’t feeling well. A moment later, they called back and told Christy she should get to the school as soon as
possible.
When Christy arrived medical workers were trying to revive a nonresponsive Maddy. She was transferred to
Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire and then to St.
Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minn. Doctors worked to help Maddy regain consciousness but were
unsuccessful. They later told Lee and Christy they believe Maddy died of a brain aneurysm.
As the Butterworths struggled to comprehend their daughter’s death, they had to decide whether to donate her
organs to others who needed them. It wasn’t an easy decision.
“Donating her organs meant accepting Maddy was dead,” Hoff said. “But we decided to do it. Maddy wanted to
help others.
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It’s what she would have wanted.”
During their time in Rochester, the Butterworths had painted the nails of their thumbs, index fingers and pinkie
fingers pink bright pink — Maddy’s favorite color — and held their hands in the American Sign Language
symbol for “I love you,” in which those digits are raised while the middle and ring fingers point toward the palm.
They decided to remember the many moments of joy Maddy had brought to their lives and named them Maddy
Moments, raising their hands in the “I love you” gesture whenever anyone brought up a happy Maddy memory.
As Maddy’s body was wheeled toward the operating room to harvest her organs, her family raised their hands
in the affectionate gesture one last time.
Joyful presence
Maddy was a born performer. Sparked by a sense of joy those who knew Maddy describe as an inner light, she
often skipped down the hallways at Locust Lane School while her classmates walked. She spontaneously
broke out in song and dance wherever she was, spreading happiness to people around her.
Maddy often choreographed song-and-dance routines, performing frequently for relatives and friends in the
living room of her Locust Lane home.
Sometimes she even performed for her beloved American Girl dolls.
Dancing at the Eau Claire School of Dance was among Maddy’s favorite activities.
“Maddy came to life when she danced,” Hoff said. “She loved performing, plain and simple. She had it inside of
her to do that.”
Show of support
Jan. 6 was an emotional day at Locust Lane School. School officials had learned from Maddy’s parents the girl
had died.
They strategized about how best to inform the students of the girl’s death. School counselor Jodi Hubbard had
the difficult task of informing Maddy’s kindergarten classmates.
She told them that Maddy had died, and many of them began to cry.
Amid their grief, the school’s students and staff found a resilient ray of hope. They had learned of the Maddy
Moments gesture, and staff and students, men and women, boys and girls, painted the nails of their thumbs,
index and ring fingers bright pink in Maddy’s honor. They gathered on the school playground for a photo, their
hands raised in the “I love you” gesture. The gesture spread.
Northstar Middle School students painted the digits on their nails as well, Hoff said, as did some members of
North High School basketball teams. The Butterworths received cards of support in the mail, some from friends,
and many from people they didn’t know.
“So many people in this community rallied around our family when they heard about Maddy’s death,” Hoff said.
“It meant so much to us.”
Birth of an idea
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Maddy’s family did their best to cope with her death, but as winter turned to spring they continued to struggle
mightily.
Hoff, 57, continued to pursue a social work degree at UW-Eau Claire.
Hoff felt a growing desire to find a way to continue her beloved granddaughter’s life in some way but didn’t
know how. She brought it up in one of her classes, and with the assistance of her fellow students, Hoff’s Maddy
Moments idea came together. She worked with the UW-Eau Claire Foundation to establish a fund to collect
donations, and in April she sold sandwiches for her first money-rasing event.
Dance partner
Once Hoff decided to move ahead with Maddy Moments, she contacted Eau Claire School of Dance owner and
director Stephanie Kling, who agreed to provide free dance lessons, essentially doubling the amount of money
that Hoff would raise. After a June 24 fundraising event at the Burrachos restaurant on Water Street, Hoff had
raised enough money for three students to dance at the school for a year, meaning, with Kling’s assistance, six
students would be able to dance for free.
Kling taught Maddy and fondly recalls her fun, energetic personality. She praised Hoff’s idea, saying it will offer
children a healthy respite from challenges they face.
“This will allow those children, for a little while each week, to have an outlet, to just let go,” she said.
Spirit alive
Six months after it occurred, Maddy’s death hangs like an omnipresent cloud over her family.
Lee and Christy are too upset about it to talk for this story. Hoff still gets teary-eyed when she looks at
photographs of Maddy.
She struggled emotionally when she handed out fliers emblazoned with Maddy’s photo at the Burrachos
fundraiser.
“I didn’t expect that seeing Maddy’s photo like that would hit me so hard, but it did,” Hoff said. “Somehow it
made her death seem more final.”
Despite that feeling, or maybe because of it, Hoff is determined to keep Maddy’s memory alive by growing
Maddy Moments. She plans to expand the program to benefit as many children as money allows.
“Maddy had a big, kind heart, and she would have wanted me to do this,” Hoff said. “Her spirit can live on by
helping other children.”
Emerson can be reached at 715-830-5911, 800-236-7077 or julian.emerson@ecpc.com.
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