1,000 Step Up To Support Marist Student Battling Cancer

When Bob Lim walked into 115 Bourbon Street on Sunday afternoon to see the outpouring of support for his 15-year-old daughter MacKenzie he got more than a little choked up.

“Overwhelming,” the Marist High School athletic director said. “I’m touched. We’re very blessed to experience this.”

More than a thousand supporters stepped for the “Team Mack” benefit for Lim’s athletic, rambunctious daughter who got clobbered with a cancer diagnosis a year ago.

Friends that Lim hasn’t seen in over 20 years, such as his old college roommate who heard about the Mackenzie’s benefit and drove in from Wisconsin with his family.

Medical bills for Mackenzie are now in the multi-millions since she was diagnosed a year ago with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She’s finished the first round of chemotherapy and is entering maintenance. Treatment of the disease to knock it into remission is expected to last three years.

“When people told us they wanted to do a benefit for our family I said. ‘absolutely not,’” Lim said. “I’m not that kind of person to take help that way, but after I received the bill for one of her medications, which as $1 million, you start thinking otherwise.”

Tables were lined with baskets and raffle prizes, including tickets to Blackhawks, White Sox, and Bulls games, a Jonathan Toews signed jersey, and a hockey stick signed by the entire Blackhawks team.

Life hasn’t stopped for the Lim family. In addition to Mackenzie, Lim and wife, Chris, have three other daughters, all of whom are active in sports and need to be driven to practices, on top of Mackenzie’s doctor appointments and treatments.

WATCH: Chris Lim reads daughter Mackenzie's letter on her battle with cancer

Later in the afternoon, the Lim family took to the stage, where Chris Lim read a moving letter penned by her daughter, thanking those who turned out to support her family.