Squeezing a plush toy that matched her white and blue dress, Maria Paula de Araujo Guedes sat on the steps leading to the pulpit of the Sewickley United Methodist Church.
Accompanied by her older brother, Breno de Araujo Guedes, and their mother, Ana Paula de Araujo Pinto, the family was welcomed by the Rev. Hannah Loughman and about 50 others at a healing service on March 27.
Maria, 6, a first grader at Osborne Elementary School, is battling cancer.
She is also missing her father, Bruno Guedes da Silva, 38, who has been in ICE detention since Feb. 22.
Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in April 2024, Maria’s chemotherapy treatments were effective, and it was in remission for most of last year.
However, a medical screening in late December indicated the cancer had returned.
Her brother said she had an allergic reaction to treatment mid-February and has bounced back after a couple more treatments at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Maria has been in good spirits, showing up to school and playing with friends.
“She loves school,” said Beth Grunwald, an English as a Second Language teacher at Quaker Valley School District. “She loves to learn, even though she’s had two major health crisis. All the teachers have supported them so much during this time because we have worked with them so closely. She’s always happy. You can tell from the children, they come from a very loving, supportive family. They highly regard education. Both children work very hard in school and just love being in school.”
Breno, 17, is a junior at Quaker Valley High School with a 3.8 GPA.
He works part-time at a Brazilian steakhouse in Downtown Pittsburgh when not in school or with family and friends.
Spiritual healing
During the service, Loughman led attendees in the hymn “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” and The Lord’s Prayer, which were both translated via the church bulletin into Portuguese.
She anointed the Brazilian family’s heads with oil and prayed over them. She was assisted by Allegheny County Jail Chaplain Colin McRoberts and retired Disciples of Christ pastor Paul Leone, both members of the Sewickley church.
“This is what makes a community,” Loughman said before the prayer. “Showing up for one another. Being here even if you don’t know each other, because we believe as a community we are meant to help bare one another’s burdens. We are meant to help ease each other’s sufferings. That’s what we are doing right now in this space.”
At one point in the evening, Loughman presented Maria with a plushie of Stitch from Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch.”
It was Maria’s favorite character. The gesture appeared to give the young girl strength to make it through the program, which also featured the poem “Courage Looks Like Me,” read by Quaker Valley School District guidance counselor Leah Lindenfelser.
A family photo was projected onto screens that bookended the stage. It was also shown on the front of the bulletin.
People in the pews laid hands on one another’s shoulders as they all joined in prayer for the family.
Many attendees wrote notes of encouragement and drew on index cards that were later put into a treasure box and presented to Maria.
Loughman said love is going to help Maria get better and prayers will “go beyond, where the medicine cannot.”
Additional music was provided by Erik Kolodziej, director of music ministries.
“I love it,” Breno said of the service. “It’s more than I can ask for. This community is amazing, the way they are helping us. I could not ask for more.
“They are embracing us. It’s amazing that they are doing that for us. The support that they are doing, and they are giving to us, is more than I could ever ask for. All I could ask for is prayers, but they are helping more than that.”
A GoFundMe was created for the family earlier this year. It raised more than $101,000 as of April 1.
The money is being used to help with expenses and legal assistance for the father.
Father in custody
Guedes da Silva and his wife, Ana Paula, were pulled over the morning of Feb. 22 at the corner of Beaver and Orchard streets in Glen Osborne, a tiny borough along the Ohio River near Sewickley.
The couple was on the way to their jobs at a restaurant when ICE agents arrested Guedes da Silva on a felony warrant for charges of sale or transfer of firearms and unsworn falsification to authorities.
Charges stem from an incident in early July 2024 in McCandless, according to online court documents.
According to the criminal complaint, Guedes da Silva attempted to buy a glock at Midwest Shooting Center.
Part of the related paperwork asked if the purchaser was “an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States.”
Guedes da Silva checked “no,” according to the complaint.
ICE records indicate he is in the country illegally and “is currently under removal proceedings,” court documents read.
Guedes da Silva remains federally detained. An asylum hearing scheduled for March 30 was postponed to April 13.
Attorney Thomas N. Farrell represents Guedes da Silva in the criminal case and is not involved in immigration enforcement issues. He said a preliminary hearing has not been scheduled.
“We’re waiting for the process to work itself out,” Farrell said March 31.
U.S. Rep Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, in February said on the social media platform X that his office was in touch with the family. He wrote that Guedes da Silva has a valid work authorization, a Social Security number and a driver’s license.
An ICE spokesperson that month downplayed the significance of Guedes da Silva’s work permit.
The spokesperson said employment authorization does not confer any type of legal status in the United States, and that Guedes da Silva was previously arrested by the Border Patrol on May 1, 2022, after he illegally entered the country and was released by the Biden administration.
Attorney Peter Rogers is working to get Guedes da Silva released from ICE custody.
Rogers said his client has never been convicted of a crime and had been working toward citizenship prior to his arrest.
“Before his detention, he lived and worked lawfully in the United States while pursuing his immigration case through legal channels,” Rogers wrote via statement obtained by TribLive.
“A path that, for more than 30 years, rarely resulted in confinement. The charges underlying his arrest stem from what Bruno maintains was a genuine misunderstanding. He is actively defending himself in court. Yet he remains detained.”
Rogers said the continued detention serves no public safety purpose.
“It does not resolve a legal case,” Rogers wrote. “It does not protect a community. It separates a father from this seriously ill daughter and his family at the moment they need him most.”
Missing dad
Maria burst into tears at the conclusion of the prayer service. Her mother and guidance counselor did their best to console the grieving child.
Breno said the both miss their father very much and want him to come home.
He declined to comment on the legal efforts.
“We can only control ourselves,” Breno said. “There’s nothing else we can control over anything that has to do with my father. The lawyers are working on it. There’s nothing we can do about it. All we can do is pray that all is going to be all right. Other than that, we’re doing OK.”
The prayer service was organized within a week with assistance from Grunwald, Lindenfelser, Sewickley resident and school board member Stratton Nash and Hadley Hass of Glen Osborne, a former Democratic candidate for the state House.
Hass has become a spokesperson for the family in recent weeks.
“They’ve been overwhelmed and grateful by the outpouring of love by the community,” Haas said after the service. “The school community has gone over and above to do as much as they can for the family during this time.”
Nash said Loughman was immediately on board with doing some kind of community event to support the family, and things moved quicker than expected.
“Recently, spirits were a little bit low and we wanted to encourage the family and lift their spirits,” Nash said. “We kind of put it on a fast track and said, ‘The sooner the better.’
Nash said he was not surprised with how the event turned out.
“I’ve worked with her on other initiatives and (she has an) open-door policy. … The spirit of this church, the openness of it — it’s what church should be.”