By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Julie Diaz has had a rough year.

Last March, her daughter Arrianna was diagnosed with a very rare type of tumor wrapped around her spine. There were times she thought her daughter would never walk again. There were times she thought her daughter wouldn't live.

Now, the thing that keeps Julie Diaz up at night is wondering how to say thank you.

"How are we going to do this? 'A mother's love'? 'A mother's thanks'? I don't know how to start it."

This Saturday, Kalei'opu'u Elementary in Village Park is having a fund-raiser for Arrianna to help with medical expenses. Arrianna is in third grade at Kalei'opu'u. The project started small, but so many community members wanted to get involved that the event has mushroomed into something closer to a fair or festival. The fund-raiser officially starts at 10 a.m., but to accommodate all the entertainment, the first act is on stage even earlier than that.

"The first group actually starts at 9:45, and then the entertainment runs straight on through 4 p.m." says Vice Principal Mark Tanji. Jordan Segundo will perform, as will Jake Shimabukuro and Imua.

"Makaha Sons wanted to come over and play for us, but one of their members has to be off-island, so they're giving a portion of their proceeds for the concert they're doing at the Makaha Sheraton to Arrianna," Tanji says.

For the Diaz family, there's a lot to be grateful for. Arrianna is starting to walk without assistance. Her hair is growing back now that chemotherapy is finished. And Arrianna went back to school for the first time in a year on April 1. She hasn't missed a day since.

"We were thinking she'd go for maybe an hour, maybe four hours and then increasing it by two hours a day," Julie says. "But no. She was there from 7:30 until like 5:30. She was tired, but she was there."

Arrianna has become a symbol of hope in her Leeward community. People have been touched by stories of her feisty spirit in the face of grave illness.

"She feels like a movie star without a movie. That's what she says," Julie says.

Arrianna is anxiously awaiting Saturday's big event, trying to decide what to wear and brushing up on her 'ukulele playing in case Jake Shimabukuro asks. As for mom, "I'm working on my speech. You don't know how many papers I've been through. I start it and then I cry and then I try again, and then I think of all the people I want to thank and I cry all over again."

Julie says she wouldn't wish such a thing on her worst enemy, but Arrianna's illness did bring an important lesson: "I only had one aunt here in Hawai'i, and friends, I could count my friends on one hand. But now, I know we have this big, extended family."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.