If you go …

WHAT: Fundraiser with 50/50 raffle and basket auction to help the family of Chase Miller, 15, who was diagnosed in 2023 with a rare form of brain cancer.

MENU: Spaghetti and meatballs, bread and butter, a variety of desserts and beverages. Take out is available.

NILES — If Chase Miller had one wish, it would be to appear on the game show “Family Feud” with his parents and five siblings.

Short of that, the 15-year-old said he would like to take a beach vacation in a tropical place where the water is blue and crystal clear.

His second choice could soon become a reality, once he chooses a location and it’s approved by the Make-A-Wish organization. The nonprofit, founded in 1980 in Arizona, grants wishes for seriously ill children.

The Niles McKinley High School freshman has a rare form of brain cancer, a high-grade anaplastic astrocytoma. Chase and his mom, Bobbi Jo Boyd, met with the newspaper earlier this week, when he took the day off school to enjoy his birthday.

While discussing Chase’s medical journey at Cadence Coffeehouse & Creperie on North Main Street, general manager Jodi Markovich let the family know she donated a basket for Saturday’s spaghetti dinner fundraiser to benefit the family.

“I pray for you guys every night,” she told Chase and Boyd.

A remote car starter and a Cleveland Indians jersey signed by former player Charles Nagy are among the items being raffled Saturday.

Because Make-A-Wish only pays for two parents and siblings up to age 20, money from the fundraiser will help pay for his sister, Morgan Spell, 25, and stepdad, Matthew Busse, to go on that tropical vacation.

Also going on the trip will be Chase’s dad, Ed; sisters, Miranda Spell, 19, Dakotah Busse, 15, and Harlyn Busse, 8; and brother, Layton Busse, 18. Any leftover money will go toward the family’s medical bills and related expenses.

Boyd, a nurse with Bon Secours Mercy Health in Youngstown, said her son’s medical journey began in winter 2023 with what doctors initially thought was a thyroid problem.

“He was having these weird episodes,” she said, explaining he would have an intense smell of metal in his nose and would have to balance himself on one leg and plug his nose to get it to subside.

The episodes became more frequent, and by May, they were happening daily, Boyd said.

On May 22 of that year — the day Miranda graduated high school — Chase complained of a headache and had shooting pains in his head.

A CT scan at St. Joseph Warren Hospital turned up an area of concern on Chase’s brain and he was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital’s main campus.

There, testing showed he was having silent seizures and confirmed the presence of a tumor. Boyd said surgeons removed as much as they could, but the tumor is connected to Chase’s optic nerve and the main artery that supplies blood to his brain.

Tests showed the tumor was cancerous and he had radiation five days a week, from June to August, at University Hospitals in Cleveland.

“His whole summer was shot,” Boyd said, but explained Niles Schools worked with the family closely once the school year started, to ensure the straight-A student didn’t fall behind. “They’ve been super.”

Chase began taking a high-dose chemotherapy pill once radiation was complete, his mom said, but a scan in October showed the tumor had grown.

The family recently made the tough decision to forego chemotherapy and pursue clinical trials to slow the tumor’s growth and, hopefully, buy some time.

Chase will have an MRI on Tuesday, but Boyd said doctors might not be able to tell if the tumor shrunk because the medication itself can cause inflammation.

He will have another scan in two months to see if there’s been any change, Boyd said, and a full-body MRI once a year will determine if the cancer has spread.

Boyd and Miller said they were blindsided by the diagnosis, which Chase said he didn’t fully understand at the time.

“But I understood,” Boyd said, adding they cope by taking things day by day.

Despite being tired on occasion, Chase said he doesn’t have many headaches and that “I really feel fine.”

Chase, who his mom referred to as “quiet” and “shy,” enjoys the beach, watching football and loves the Christmas holiday and its music. Boyd said the family has 14 Christmas trees they put up each year.

Chase is also a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. He attended Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns and made it down on the field before the game.

“It was cool.” Chase said, explaining the team sent him a care package last year that included a football signed by T.J. Watt.

Chase completed his first season of high school soccer this year and got to play with his brother and under the direction of his stepdad.

The family has a bunch of board games at home and regularly enjoys some friendly competition. Chase favors the Family Feud game and said he hopes to one day be a contestant, since Make-A-Wish told him they could only coordinate a meet-and-greet on the set.

In the meantime, he said he plans to enjoy some beach time with family and said he feels positive and hopeful about his future.

“I want to be a mechanic and work on cars,” he said. “That’s what I want to do.”