CANAAN -- In the month since doctors discovered Faylynn McEwen had a brain tumor, community fundraising has collected almost $10,000 toward her treatment. She is about 4 months old.

Most of the collected money has come from two recent efforts: a spaghetti dinner held Sept. 18 at the Broken Putter Restaurant in Pittsfield raised $5,200; and a multiple-school fundraising drive netted $3,300.

The money has been deposited in a fund for Faylynn at Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union in Newport, said Cathy Lydem, a close friend of the McEwen family who has helped to organize the dinner benefit and other efforts.

Faylynn will need all the assistance she can get: her parents, Stanley and Don'l McEwen of Canaan, recently learned that their daughter has the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumor. Called Glioblastoma multiforme, the tumor is extremely rare for children as young as Faylynn.

Faylynn remains at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor with her parents.

"It's the fastest-growing tumor and they've never seen it in a child her size; mostly in men and kids 9 to 12 years old," Lydem said. "Nothing can help it except radiation. But seeing as how she's so little, if they do radiation it will fry her brain cells."

The McEwens have decided Faylynn should undergo chemotherapy to keep the tumor at bay so it doesn't grow any larger, Lydem said. That way, "she can make it to one year and from there they can do the radiation on her," she said. But, these doctors "have never even done chemo on such a young child before."

The McEwens have already used some of the collected money to pay for what their health insurance will not cover during the treatment process, Lydem said.

Both of the recent fundraisers were big successes, Lydem said. The spaghetti dinner, which also included a raffle and auction, netted its $5,200 in just three hours, she said. More than 300 people attended, consuming 70 pounds of spaghetti, and organizers needed to get more sauce than they had on hand.

The school fundraiser involved Somerset Valley Middle School in Hartland, Hartland Consolidated School, St. Albans Consolidated School and Palmyra Consolidated School. The idea sprung from Lisa Neal, a seventh-grade teacher at Somerset Valley. The four schools worked with the restaurant chain Pizza Hut to have all the students sell a pizza gift card and coupons for $8. In each sale, $3 went to Pizza Hut and $5 went toward Faylynn and her family.

More fundraisers are on the horizon, Lydem said. The Calvary Baptist Church in Canaan is set to host a choir concert benefit Nov. 8, along with a ham dinner, with proceeds going to help Faylynn. In addition, there will be a golfing benefit Oct. 18 at 9 a.m. at the Clinton Golf Club.

Scott Monroe -- 487-3288, 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com