Until a few weeks ago, Jessica Skonberg had never heard of Madisyn Sickafoose, the 6-year-old North Star Elementary student diagnosed last month with a rare cancer. But that did not stop Skonberg from organizing a spaghetti benefit dinner that raised $10,000 for the Sickafoose family Sunday evening.

Skonberg’s kindness was by no means random. She said she felt compelled to help because the Kodiak community came together with a series of benefit dinners and bake sales when her family suffered a medical emergency. Skonberg’s husband died in April after a 12-month struggle with brain cancer.

“I had a very hard time accepting that money,” she said. “Breath, relax and let us love you,” she told Madisyn’s father Josh, who came to the dinner.

Skonberg learned about Sickafoose’s condition when someone sent her a link to a journal about the family on the Web site CaringBridge.com.

“As soon as I read about them I knew I had to do something,” she said. “I know from experience that if someone is asking for help, they are already in a bad situation.”

The Sickafoose family only learned last month that Madisyn has Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects the bone or soft tissue.

Despite the trying circumstances for the Sickafoose family, the atmosphere was festive at the spaghetti feed. Children attended en mass, including classmates of Sickafoose and Skonberg’s son, who also attends North Star. The event served 450 spaghetti dinners. The three-hour dinner featured a full set of entertainment including fiddle player Sawyer Olsen, musicians and dancers from St. Innocent’s Academy, the Fiddle Heads and the high school rock band Justified Delinquency. D.J. Marc from Island Style Entertainment emceed the event.

Guests competed for homemade baked goods and local gift certificates during the event’s silent action. Parents in Sickafoose’s kindergarten class helped with much of the baking.

Skonberg said co-organizers and local businesses made the even possible.

“A great thing about Kodiak is that help is just a phone call away,” she said. “We called local businesses and explained the situation. They said, ‘We’ll do it. What can we offer?’”

Sickafoose and her mother were not at the dinner because they are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle, so Madisyn can receive treatment at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her mother posted on the CaringBrige Web site that Madisyn was not able to go outside to trick-or-treat on Halloween, but was able to put on a costume and give candy to other trick- or-treaters.

The spaghetti dinner is not the first good break the family has had since hearing the bad news. Last month, thick fog in Kodiak looked like it was going to keep the family from making its medical appointment in Seattle. Coast Guard Lt. Amanda Henderson overheard the family’s situation and help them get onto a C-130 Hercules that was headed to Anchorage.

Mirror Write Sam Friedman can be reached via e-mail at sfriedman@kodiakdailymirror.com