STANFIELD — Audrey Bailey was overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of the crowd.

Dozens of taekwondo students gathered with their families and friends at Eastern Oregon Family Taekwondo in downtown Stanfield on May 22 for a “break-a-thon” to raise funds in support of Bailey’s daughter, Maysie, a 2-year-old girl from Hermiston who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

“I just feel really blessed,” said Bailey, 23, holding her daughter outside the studio. “I just love knowing these people and it’s inspiring to me and it’s making me want to do more for others.”

The event raised nearly $15,000 for Maysie Bailey’s upcoming chemotherapy treatment in Portland, according to Erwin Watson, the studio owner and lead instructor.

“We’re just really thankful for the community coming together,” said Drexlyn Bailey, Maysie’s father, who is 24 and a plumber in Hermiston. “You just see that people have a good heart and that they want to help.”

Students from the taekwondo studio during the past month were tasked with selling $5 planks of wood, with the promise they would break with their bare hands each board they sold.

That culminated in the streets of Stanfield as the drizzly morning gave way to sun. Families snapped photos and cheered while their children chopped down hard on hundreds of planks set between cinder blocks, at times wincing with pain when the plank wouldn’t budge.

Members of the Bailey family stood nearby. Each expressed gratitude and surprise at the size of the gathering. Several shed tears while reflecting on the kindness of the people that came out to support their family.

“It confirms that there’s still some good in people,” said Bill Bailey, Maysie’s grandfather. “This shows there’s good in the world that’s worth fighting for.”

The fundraiser was the third the studio has held in recent years, and the second for a child with cancer, Watson said. It began when Watson’s daughter, who raised money for the Baileys through haircuts, proposed the idea to her father, prompting Watson to organize the fundraiser.

“It’s good not to feel alone and have community around you when you’re going through something like this,” Audrey Bailey said.

After having most of her brain tumor removed through surgery in February, Maysie Bailey finished six weeks of radiation treatment in Seattle last week, the family said. Doctors told the family the treatment went very well, with some remarking she had been the best patient they had treated. She did not have to go through physical therapy and only lost a small patch of hair near the back of her head, the Baileys said.

“They said she would have no energy,” Drexlyn Bailey said. “But she’s been bouncing around.”

But now begins a monthslong process of chemotherapy and the costs that come with it. As a plumber in Hermiston, Drexlyn can’t make any money when he misses work, and paying for the treatment became a major concern for the family.

That’s why the Baileys were “blown away by how generous and loving and caring all these people are,” Audrey Bailey said at the event.

“We stand behind the children of our community,” said Jackie Lucas, a lifelong Stanfield resident, whose niece was in the taekwondo school. “There’s a lot of caring people here.”

The day began with demonstrations in the studio, where families packed in to watch their children thrust, jab and kick while Watson shouted commands. Many children stood nervously in front of the large crowd, making mistakes that prompted frequent corrections from Watson, who cracked jokes to ease the tension.

The studio consists of roughly 100 students from across Eastern Oregon, some from as far as Heppner. Parents at the event said they bring their children long distances to have them learn self-control, discipline and determination.

Some children went above and beyond in the fundraiser, Watson said, raising extra money for Maysie Bailey through things such as lemonade stands.

“It’s overwhelming,” Watson said as the event neared its end. “I couldn’t talk. It was just so emotional. When it comes to little kids having cancer and raising money, and all the kids pull in together and they all broke open their piggy banks — it’s just amazing that, even as young as they are, they understand.”