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Ivy Howland won't be eating Thanksgiving dinner this week because she can't swallow. In fact, she can hardly speak.

"Mom, you have no idea how much strength it takes just to say hello," Ivy's mother, Danette, told Ivy's grandmother, Annette Hakkinen, during a recent telephone call.

Instead of celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends in Kenai, the Howlands are in Seattle, where Ivy, 14, continues her battle against a severe form of brain cancer at the Seattle Children's Hospital.

Hakkinen said she longs to be with her granddaughter and the rest of her family on Thursday, like she is on most Thanksgivings, but she is pleased that at least they are together.

Ivy was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a malignant tumor developed during childhood that usually attacks the central nervous system. The five-year survival rate is about 50 percent.

Still, Hakkinen says, Ivy seems to be doing well.

"She continues to show signs of improvement," Hakkinen said.

Currently, Ivy is in the second week of a rigid, five-day-a-week regiment of chemotherapy and radiation. That stage of the treatment is expected to last six weeks.

In Ivy's first week, doctors were concerned because she was having trouble managing sugar secretions and getting oxygen, Hakkinen said. But in the second week, Ivy improved dramatically.

"She surprised the pants off of the doctors," Hakkinen said.

Family is important, especially on Thanksgiving and especially when a young girl is fighting cancer. Charlie Yamada understands that. She spent February through June of last year at the Seattle Children's Hospital while her 8-year-old son Marcus underwent treatment for promyelocytic leukemia.

"The most important thing is the support from your family," Yamada said Tuesday. By sticking together, the Yamadas were able to get through a very difficult situation, she said.

"We became team Yamada. You've got to have support and you have to have a positive attitude."

Yamada, a Kenai resident, said the Howlands should remember the importance of family as they continue the long road. And family can come in many forms.

The Yamadas never spent a Thanksgiving in Seattle, but Marcus did celebrate a birthday there. Charlie Yamada got a couple of ice cream cakes and brought them to the Ronald McDonald House where they were staying and celebrated Marcus's birthday with other families staying at the house.

"It's not your friends and family from home, but they know how you feel," she said of the supportive network made up of families going through the same experience.

This Thanksgiving, the Yamadas are actually planning to spend the day with families they met at the Ronald McDonald house in Seattle. The group has become that close. Charlie Yamada said after dealing with Marcus' cancer, her family has grown closer, too.

"We're definitely a tighter knit family," she said. "We still keep the same values, make morally right choices for him (Marcus) and the team as a whole."

The Howlands also have a strong support network here. The number of fundraising efforts on the family's behalf and the number of people working on them say a lot.

Veronica's held an open-mic night fundraiser earlier this month. Kenai Central High School is hosting a spaghetti dinner and auction fundraiser from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 5. The Triumvirate Theatre will be holding a music concert fundraiser Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. at its theater in the Peninsula Center Mall.

"It's an advantage of living in a small community," said Megan O'Neill, the Kenai Middle School student leadership teacher who is also helping coordinate the spaghetti dinner. "People know each other and they care about each other."

In a small community where the Howlands have deep roots, people have even more reason to view the Howlands as one of their own.

"They're a family that has been in Kenai for several generations, and they have touched a lot of other peoples' lives," said Kenai high school English teacher Susan Nabholz.

Ivy would have been a freshman at the high school this year, so Nabholz has yet to have her in class, but she has taught Ivy's older siblings. "It's the right thing to do for people to look out for each other and step up in this situation."

And the Howlands are grateful.

Danette Howland asked her mother to pass along this message to the community: "We are filled with gratitude for all the cards, calls and sweets coming from all of you. We may not be feasting on Thanksgiving, but we certainly will take time to give thanks this Thursday."

Similar community efforts supported the Yamada, Reynolds and Boyle families when their children were fighting cancer. Students in particular have always been there for their friends and classmates, O'Neill said.

"The kids take it pretty personally," she said, remembering her students cutting their hair, folding paper swans and purchasing the bracelets to support their peers. "Often time we dwell on what is wrong with kids, but we don't give them enough credit for what they have done."

Andrew Waite can be reached at andrew.waite@peninsulaclarion.com .