2022 was a year that highlighted the best aspects of our communities. We gathered together in person again, supported our neighbors through difficult times, stood for causes we believed in, and celebrated each other’s achievements.
cancer fight
A resilient teenager and a family in need; Olivia Perez fights cancer with a smile
PEPPERELL — Olivia Perez is like any other 13-year-old.
The Nissitissit Middle Schooler is a Girl Scout that plays soccer and loves cats. She is a big Stranger Things (and Joe Keery) fan and — in her free time — her hobbies include Roblox, Minecraft and Pokémon.
She just also has cancer.
Back in June, a medulloblastoma — a malignant tumor and the most common type of cancerous brain tumor found in children — was found on Olivia Perez’s cerebellum. Now, faced with mounting treatment costs, the Pepperell Police Department, behind Police Chief David Scott, and the community at large have come together to support her and her family.
“The whole town has really rallied around her,” said Felecia Perez, Olivia Perez’s mother. “They’ve made everything so much easier on us, just to have people there when we need them has made a huge difference.”
“It’s been eye-opening,” she added of the Police Department. “They didn’t have to do anything for us, they could have just gone about their day and did their job and that would have been enough because they’re taking care of the community. But they have done so much more than that, they’ve gone so far out of their way for us — at this point, they feel like family.”
Felecia Perez first noticed trouble when her daughter began to slur her words. After a few incidents of fainting, she took Olivia Perez to the doctor.
While she was met with resistance at first, Felecia Perez managed to get her daughter in for an MRI. It was during the procedure that the doctors found the tumor.
“At first I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “The idea had never even crossed my mind, so when they told me they found a tumor, that Olivia had brain cancer, I was just at a loss.”
From there, Olivia Perez was quickly whisked into surgery. Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital removed the tumor and, after a two-week stint at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, she began treatment.
Felecia Perez said her daughter was unphased by the news.
“(Olivia Perez) already knew something was wrong and I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was, so we didn’t even tell her that she had cancer until after the tumor had been removed,” Felecia Perez said. “Of course, when I told her, it just bounced right off her — she said ‘Oh, OK, that’s fine.’”
Olivia Perez proved resilient in more ways than one: doctors explained to Felecia Perez that, after surgery, it would likely be “months” before Olivia Perez could walk or speak coherently again — so, of course, the tenacious teenager “shot up as if nothing had ever happened” during her time at Spaulding.
Chemotherapy and regular check-ins with doctors followed six weeks of radiation treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital. In that time, a GoFundMe was set up, while Cops for Kids with Cancer made a sizeable, $5,000 donation to the family and the Pepperell Police Department decided to pitch in as well.
Scott, in the midst of his own battle with colorectal cancer, said he nor the department could pass up the opportunity to help someone in the community. After a November fundraiser for the Boston Red Sox and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program, the department turned their efforts toward the Perez family, donating funds in order to “bend the rules” in regard to the department’s facial hair policy, and asked the community to do the same.
“When I brought it up, I couldn’t even get the words out of my mouth before officers were saying ‘yes, of course,’” Scott said. “We have a great group (at the police department), people just willing to do whatever they can to help this community and I think that sort of connection is really important.”
Given his own experiences, Scott praised Olivia Perez for her strength and determination amidst a difficult battle for anyone, let alone a 13-year-old girl. Felecia Perez agreed.
“As a patient myself, I get what you go through, what your family might go through — it’s not easy,” Scott said. “But watching Olivia, I don’t know how she does it.”
“I haven’t heard her complain yet,” he added with a laugh. “But, seriously, she’s strong, she’s resilient — I can certainly say, at her age, I would never have been able to deal with something like this the way she has,” he said.
“The unknown of everything, waking up every day and just not knowing what could happen, I can barely handle it now — I never would have been able to when I was her age,” Felecia Perez said. “And I think that just shows how strong she’s been through this whole thing.”
As of Monday, Dec. 12, Scott said the Police Department, with help from other first responders around town, had raised “well over $1,000” for the cause. The GoFundMe, meanwhile, has managed to raise more than $12,000 for the family.
Scott said the generosity was a “long-standing” characteristic of the Pepperell community, while Felecia Perez heaped appreciation on anyone and everyone that has helped her or Olivia Perez throughout the entire saga. With a wink, a point and a smile, Olivia Perez said everyone that had given to their cause was “awesome” and that she could not thank the community enough.
“What else can I say other than thank you?” Olivia Perez said. “It’s just awesome to see how much money the community has managed to give, how much they’ve been able to help and we just really appreciate every bit of it.”
“That money has made everything so much easier for us, I don’t have to worry about bills or whatever else and I can just focus on Olivia,” Felecia Perez said. “Honestly, we’ve just been so lucky to have the community behind us — people (in Pepperell) are just so nice, so giving, so caring, I can’t thank them enough.”
“That’s just the way Pepperell is, how it always has been,” Scott said. “People around here, we help each other out however we can.”
Amidst her third cycle of chemotherapy, Olivia Perez has a lot of treatment left in front of her. That said, despite her fear of needles, Felecia Perez said she was “gung-ho” and ready to take on whatever the doctors — or her cancer — might throw at her.
While she has missed time here and there amidst treatment, Olivia Perez has returned to school on a semi-regular basis. While it was “awkward” at first, she said her friends and classmates have come around and while, at first, she was resistant to the idea, she has slowly leaned on them for support.
“Kids are weird, sometimes they just stare,” Olivia Perez said. “That can be pretty awkward but, for the most part, everyone has treated me like a normal kid, which is nice.”
“(Olivia) has always been very independent, like she didn’t even want us to tell people (about her diagnosis),” Felecia Perez said. “She was ready to fight this completely alone — and I think that says a lot about her at her age — but she’s come around and it’s been nice to see her friends stand with her through this.
While she called her classes “boring,” Olivia Perez said she looked forward to getting back into school full-time. She also said she hoped to get back on the soccer field “as soon as possible” and that she hoped to use the money raised to help fund her dream of owning seven cats; while her mother said Olivia Perez “could use a vacation” after her treatment was all said and done, she stressed that none of the money would be put towards purchasing cats.
If you want to help Olivia Perez and her family, you can donate online at gofundme.com/f/help-olivia-with-her-courageous-battle.
Michael Foley ‘paying it forward’ through Ducks for Cancer
PEPPERELL — Most people diagnosed with late-stage cancer would consider themselves anything but “lucky.” Michael Foley is not like most.
While he once might have thought otherwise, Foley’s perspective has been permanently altered by his own diagnosis and subsequent journey. Now, through his charity, Ducks for Cancer, Foley does what he can to not only cherish every moment, but “pay it forward” and help those in the midst of their own cancer trek.
“(Ducks for Cancer) isn’t for me or about me, it’s about paying it forward,” Foley said. “It’s about giving a little kindness each and every day, doing what I can to help people just because.”
Foley’s venture, which has raised over $60,000 for various charities as of this October, began in earnest a year ago as he sold the first of many handmade wooden ducks and donated the proceeds to the Chemo Bag Project, a nonprofit that distributes gift bags to cancer treatment patients “in need of cheer.” The roots of Ducks for Cancer, however, can be found in his own diagnosis which came back in 2017.
While he avoided the doctor at first, Foley ultimately ended up in the emergency room after multiple days with extreme headaches. He “just didn’t feel right,” while his usual upbeat personality had turned notably sour.
“I just started acting kind of nasty to everybody, even my wife and kids,” he said. “I wasn’t myself.”
Foley was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer, which doctors said had spread to his liver, kidney and brain. Unfortunately, it was far from his first exposure to the awful disease; he lost his father and sister to cancer in 2010 and 2015, respectively.
Still, Foley said he was stunned.
“I can’t even describe what I was going through, what I was thinking,” he said. “The diagnosis, it just blew me away.”
Foley was later transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he underwent multiple surgeries to remove cancerous tumors. Radiation treatment followed, as did various clinical trials and chemotherapy, a process Foley described as “horrendous.”
“The first three years, the chemo(therapy), being in and out of the hospital, it was like a horror movie,” Foley said. “Just awful, no other way to describe it.”
While he made it back home, Foley’s life never quite returned to “normal.” Unable to work, he searched for something to soak up his time; enter the wooden fowl.
Foley first crafted his ducks as a “silly” Christmas gift for his kids and close family, modeled after similar ducks that his father had made for him back in the early 1980s. But word quickly spread and, soon enough, extended family, friends, acquaintances and even people Foley had never met were asking how they could get their own.
Foley immediately saw the potential — and, with the help of his family, Ducks for Cancer was born.
“I couldn’t do much else, so I made them as sort of a Christmas present for the family,” he said. “Then some friends found out and said ‘Oh, can you make me a set?’ and it just sort of blew up from there.”
“It wasn’t long after that when I thought ‘what can I do with this?’ Because there’s a lot I can’t do anymore — what do you expect after a traumatic sort of brain injury — but I wanted to do something to help others, so that’s when I came up with the idea of Ducks for Cancer,” he said.
At first, Foley planned to donate proceeds to the “usual suspects,” such as the Mass. General Cancer Center, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. But, at the recommendation of a friend and with his own experiences in mind, Foley instead chose to back the CBP, which “uplift and encourage” those in the midst of their own fight against cancer.
“What I’m doing isn’t going to cure anything,” Foley said. “But if I can make it easier for someone that’s already going through it, I think that’s a worthy cause.”
“So much money already goes into curing cancer. I want to compassionately care for people who are dealing with cancer right now because I know what they’re going through” he said.
His work did not stop there. Earlier this year, Foley introduced a new duck crafted in honor of Matthew Boyd, a 14-year-old Townsend boy that died from pediatric cancer last October.
With the help of the Boyd family, Foley and Ducks for Cancer have also raised money for Lucy’s Love Bus, which provides massage, acupuncture, music therapy, therapeutic horseback riding and other integrative therapies that “ease children’s pain and anxiety” amid their fight with cancer. As of Oct. 24, Foley had donated more than $60,000 to the CBP and nearly $6,000 to LLB.
Foley described his family as “integral” to that substantial financial success and said the project would have been “nothing” without their support.
“We came up with the idea together,” Foley said. “(Ducks for Cancer) wouldn’t be here without each and every one of them — and I am so lucky to have their support, to have them here with me through all of this,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of four local storefronts — Apple Meadow Hardware and the Farmers’ Exchange in Townsend as well as the Wilkins Farm Stand and The Barn Door in Pepperell — which have sold his ducks in their stores for zero profit.
“I never would have been able to do this without the help of those four stores,” he said. “I just make the ducks — as far as I’m concerned, they’re doing the hard part.”
Foley’s bout with cancer is far from over — he has to visit the hospital every 12 weeks for body scans — but, through his fight and charity work, he has learned to “appreciate every day” and said he hoped Ducks for Cancer could help spread that message. And, as he made note of the fact that he’s sold ducks to people in all 50 states, Foley said he was excited to see Ducks for Cancer continue to grow.
“I’m living with cancer, I’m always going to have it and I’ve accepted that, but I’m going to enjoy every day, the good and the bad, as much as I can,” he said. If I can spread that message, to not take life for granted, on top of the good we’re already doing, even better.”
“The highlight of my day is making these ducks and doing something good in the world — and I’m going to do every bit of good that I can do while I’m still here,” he said.
Leominster family vows ‘no bad days’ as son fights cancer
LEOMINSTER – The Vega family is just Inigo, 11, and his parents Alfonso and Lyndi.
But when Inigo was diagnosed with brain cancer last year, the family grew to include an entire surrounding community that stepped up to support them during tough times.
“We have been humbled by the response that we have received,” said longtime city resident Alfonso Vega of people lifting them up in many ways in the wake of the diagnosis.
Since Inigo got sick, it’s been blur of tests, treatments, and support while he bravely battles the disease.
“It’s crushing and heartbreaking, nothing can really explain what it’s like to watch your child go through something like this,” Alfonso said. “Your world gets completely flipped upside down. To see your child lose everything, to watch your child be thrust to the gates of death, there is no explanation that we could give that would illuminate for others the horror and gut-wrenching pain that we have gone through.”
The Vega family has prioritized being in this battle together and has “no regrets as to making every outing about us,” Alfonso said.
“When something like this happens to you and your child, you look back and you’re absolutely thankful for the life choices that you have made with your family,” Alfonso said. “We never went on vacation with other friends without each other, we never even contemplated doing things without our kiddo. We’re not saying that that’s something that all parents should do. It was just something that we had chosen to do, we made him our point of focus.”
“As a parent you only have your children for so long before they’re off into the world on their own,” he continued. “We made sure to stay supremely aware of that. We wanted him to know how important he was to us. And in this moment going through what we have gone through we are blessed to not have the regrets that would have come with doing life differently.”
While they were reluctant to put up a GoFundMe to help cover medical costs and living expenses, the couple both had to stop working when all of this happened to care for their son and the $33,000 raised so far has helped them immensely.
“Lyndi literally arrived at the hospital in her hospital scrubs from her day of work when we first took Inigo to the ER,” Alfonso recalled. “It is nothing short of a miracle that we made it a full year without having a stable income.”
When a GoFundMe drive was suggested, the family didn’t really have time to think about putting one together.
“Our focus simply was on the acuity of Inigo’s situation, and as we had been made aware we knew that we needed to fight as hard as we could because we didn’t know what type of timetable we had with Inigo,” Alfonso said. “It would be fair to say that we believed we did not have very long left with him. However, by the grace of God things have turned out differently and a year later we still have our son. But as we continue to fight, to be able to take care of him adequately and ourselves we do need some help from our community. We are so thankful for the love that people have shown to us by supporting us financially, it’s amazing to see the outpouring of support for us.”
A t-shirt fundraiser with designs they put together with Inigo’s input while at Spaulding Rehabilitation came about after they had previously made shirts for the medical teams treating Inigo.
“If you were to walk onto the neuro-oncology unit at Boston Children’s Hospital today you may see some of our nurses wearing his team Inigo Sasquatch ‘Love is the Cure’ shirts,” Alfonso said. “This new shirt fundraiser, however, is a different design, it is ‘Inigo’s Posse’ and it’s much in the style of a wanted poster from the wild west.”
The newest design was inspired by a self-portrait Inigo created that incorporates two things he loves — a Stetson hat he wore a lot when he was younger that was given to him by one of his dad’s friends and a bowtie that he wore religiously to school. They also created posters from the design, and one hung on Inigo’s door at Spaulding; others are on display at their doctors’ offices.
“Shirt campaigns have very small margins,” Alfonso said. “This campaign is about putting something out there where people can have something tangible from us that also shows their support for Inigo. We are excited to do it and to see Inigo’s face light up every time one of his nurses would walk in with his Sasquatch shirt makes it worth it. We look forward now to having people send us pictures of them wearing his new design and we look forward to seeing the joy that that will bring him.”
He said they cannot even begin to adequately express their gratitude for the teams of medical professionals who have taken such good care of their son.
“We cannot say enough about Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s, Spaulding Rehabilitation and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic, what amazing places they are,” the father said. “We have absolutely loved our nurses at every place that we have been to, they have become like family to us. Their care for us is more than just a job, they have loved us into getting better.”
Some of the nurses have sat and played guitar with them and some came in on their days off to help Inigo through his last treatment.
“The speech therapist and artists from the AIR program at BCH have sat with Inigo and worked with him to bring out his creativity once again during the time when he could not speak and could barely move,” Alfonso said. “All of our therapists are amazing people and so good at what they do.”
A bright spot during his treatment was when a therapist at Spaulding noticed that a lot of the pictures hanging on Inigo’s wall involved him mountain biking.
“Down to the adult spinning class he went,” his father said. “There Inigo was given the option to cycle on a three-wheeled recumbent bike. We were able to finally see an option for Inigo to feel as though he had some autonomy. Inigo was still learning how to walk again but sit him down on a bike and it was like a duck to water.
“Mountain biking was one of his favorite hobbies before his diagnosis. They looked at the pictures and got our little boy on a bike again. The nurse practitioners and the neuro-oncology doctors have been so sensitive as they have guided us through Inigo’s care. You don’t choose to be at these places, life circumstances lead you there. We are so thankful that Inigo has been blessed to have had care from these institutions.”
Alfonso graduated from South Lancaster Academy near the College Church of Seventh-day Adventists, where he has been a lifetime member of the congregation. The church reached out to the Vega family, prayed for and with them, and sent monetary donations.
“We love and appreciate the support that the church has given to us through our journey,” Alfonso said. “They have made sure to keep us at the forefront and we are so thankful for that, but I have to say that at this point, I would not expect any less. We are thankful for a community that works diligently at taking care of those that are in need. They haven’t known specifically what our needs are, but we have let them know that prayer is tangible for us. And if they continue to pray for us miracles can happen. That is tangible.”
Inigo’s paternal grandparents from Puerto Rico helped take care of the Vega home while they were living at the hospital.
“Our poor dog had no idea where we had gone, to say she was confused when we showed back up about five months later is an understatement,” Alfonso said. “They have been an example to us of the love that parents have for their children. They have supported us every day sometimes with tears in their eyes. And while most of our community has not known our day to day, they have.
“Whether it was to bring us provisions at the hospital, or to come sit in the rooftop garden at BCH to see us bring Inigo out in his wheelchair for a few moments, they have been there for us. They have understood what it means that ‘you cannot talk love, you must show love.’ They have been the embodiment of that for us. They have recently flown back into retirement, but we know that at a moment’s notice they would fly right back in to help us if we needed them to. That’s pretty awesome.”
Alfonso wants other parents to be vigilant about cancer warning signs of. In Inigo’s case, he had few noticeable symptoms and because of that they did not seek a diagnosis “until very late.” Inigo had gotten sick one evening so his nurse mom tested him for COVID, which was negative. Over the next few days, he felt run-down but told his parents he was feeling better, so they thought he had a cold.
“One morning he woke up and his left eye had turned in towards his nose,” Alfonso remembers. “That was followed by a trip to ophthalmology, which told us that we were in an emergency situation and that we needed to go to the emergency room.”
They went to Boston Children’s, a familiar place since Inigo was born with chronic kidney disease. He was tested for all sorts of things and after a second MRI were given the brain cancer news.
“We ended up in the ICU while waiting for a surgical suite to become available to get Inigo in for a tumor resection,” his father said. “As we waited for surgery Inigo asked us so many questions about his diagnosis and what it meant. We’ve never held anything back from Inigo his entire life and so we proceeded to explain to him as much as we knew about what was going on. We also let him know that there was a lot that we did not know about his diagnosis. We remember vividly him saying ‘I would like to live so let’s get this going’ in reference to the surgery.”
That positive attitude has been a constant throughout Inigo’s ordeal, even when three days post-surgery he fell into what is called cerebellar mutism and his parents became his eyes and ears when he could no longer walk, talk, or eat. Even through radiation and then chemotherapy for the aggressive cancer and high-intensity rehabilitation and speech, physical, and occupational therapy.
“It is humbling to watch Inigo go through this,” Alfonso said. “It is incredible to see his strength. His bravery is a quality that I could only dream of having.”
In August, more cancer was found in his son’s spine. The following month, a year after his initial diagnosis, he underwent shunt revision and has now started intrathecal chemotherapy to treat more disease sites. The family travels to the Jimmy Fund Clinic for the IT therapy two days a week and Inigo does oral chemo every day. In addition, one week out of the month they are in for treatment Monday through Friday.
“We also attempt to get him to his therapies, which he has three days during the week,” Alfonso said. “We have a very full schedule.”
“Lyndell and I had a conversation as we waited,” Alfonso said of his wife. “In our sadness discussing all sorts of things that were going to happen to Inigo, I looked at her and I said, ‘No bad days. No bad days because Inigo deserves better than that. You and I cannot have bad days. This has happened and we cannot change that and so Inigo must see us as he always has. Because if he loses us now to sadness, to despair, to the loss of hope, he will have lost everything.’ So, we live every day with the understanding that there are no bad days.”
He went on to say that love is the cure comes from the idea that “everything in this world can be cured by love,” a belief that stems from their deep faith.
“We believe that one day we will see that, that all the wrongs of this world, all the ills that people have gone through, all the dark days that others have endured, love will be the cure to those things. One day all the darkness will die, and love will stand in its place. There will be no more sadness, there will no longer be tears, and the cure that we have all sought after will find us.
“This leads us to have hope, and to have faith in God,” Alfonso continued. “It is why every day in the hospital we would wake up and the shades would go up on our windows. We would work at doing whatever it was that Inigo needed. At one point we became dancing bears, anything to keep that little boy smiling. And though he had lost his ability to speak, he never lost his ability to laugh. Our story could be a story of sadness, but we have decided to deal with it differently. We walk with our heads held high. We keep hope that love will be the cure. That allows us to live every day with a necessary optimism, and though we do not know the end of our story, we do know that we will be OK.”
About a month ago they were having their daily evening conversation before Inigo went off to bed after reading something “about going through experiences in life where you are called to forgiveness.”
“We were reading an introspective on the biblical story of Joseph about him forgiving his brothers for what they have done to him,” Alfonso shared. “We discussed what it means to forgive, and we discussed what it means to carry trauma after something that we have been through. I asked Inigo if he was angry about everything that he has been through and he looked into my eyes and said ‘I am not angry, because I can’t go back and change what has happened. I only want to look forward and continue to work to get better. No Dad, I’m not angry anymore.’
“That embodies the Inigo that always was,” his father continued. “He was always a deep thinker for his age. He’s always brilliant and intelligent and was always funny and fun-loving. To see him go through something like this and handle it with the grace and bravery that he has is honestly the only way we could have seen him face something like this. It does not surprise us that he wanted to face this head on, and it doesn’t surprise us that he has fought as hard as he has. Inigo has seen more and gone through more pain than anyone should ever go through in a lifetime, and yet he has handled it as the kid that we always knew. He has handled it with amazing grace that inspires us daily.”
Perfect in Pink: Kathy DiRusso recognized for her fight for a cure
LEOMINSTER — Kathy DiRusso is easy to spot and can be seen around Leominster with her recognizable pink hair, often at city events and festivals where her team, The Cup Crusaders, applies temporary pink hair dye to anyone wishing to be “Pink for the Day” in return for modest donations.
This August, DiRusso was recognized at the Susan G. Komen New England 3-Day as a Milestone Award winner having walked in 31 events and led her team in raising over $1.5 million toward a cure for breast cancer.
DiRusso walked her first 3-Day in 2002, walking in memory of an aunt lost to the disease.
“Since then, like many others, I have experienced too much loss at the hands of this disease,” DiRusso said. This includes her co-captain, Heather Morse, who lost her battle in June of 2018 after over 10 years fighting metastatic breast cancer, “and to whom I promised I would never give up, until a cure is found,” she added.
When asked how she has helped to raise such incredible totals, DiRusso said, “I don’t believe I’m asking for money — that would be awkward. I’m asking people to help us do something big — finding a cure for breast cancer, and eventually, all cancers.”
DiRusso said her team fundraises year-round, which helps bring in desperately needed funds to fuel research to finding that elusive cure.
The cure is the ultimate goal, but DiRusso shares that her own personal reward each year is the 3-Day and 60 mile walk itself.
“I do train as it’s not an easy feat to accomplish, walking 20 miles a day for 3 days,” she said. “But on the walk, I take my time. I soak in every step, every mile; sharing stories and listening as others share theirs.”
There are many mottos, pledges and promises made on the 3-Day, but DiRusso’s favorite is “Every mile is a story” …a true statement for sure.
The stories help to inspire team captains like DiRusso to come back each year with even bigger goals and hopefully more teammates.
DiRusso is currently recruiting teammates for the New England Walk planned for Aug. 18 through Aug. 20, 2023.
While receiving the award, a few quotes were read, one from her friend and teammate Dorie Cormier.
“Kathy DiRusso is the quintessential captain — part coach, part priest, part mental health counselor, part sister, and part cheerleader. She juggles these roles well. Inspires all to keep on raising money,” she said.
Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella shared in her sentiment.
“Kathy has been steadfast in her ability to not only fundraise but to inspire and energize others to join in the fight against breast cancer,” he said. “She will leave no stone unturned until the cures are found. Her passion is unmatched, and her advocacy has touched the lives of more people than she will ever know. I am also proud to call her my friend.”
DiRusso said that what’s most important is to keep her eyes on the prize — the cure.
“It’s never been about one person for me, although I’ve experienced much loss at the hand of this disease, for me it’s always been about finding the cure so that nobody ever has to lose a loved one again,” she said.
To get involved, or to support the efforts of The Cup Crusaders, reach out to Kathy at kathydirusso60@gmail.com or by calling 978-397-2992.
Fitchburg childhood cancer survivor spreads cheer to cancer patients
FITCHBURG – You would never know by looking at spirited and robust 11-year-old Thiago Molinari that the young man with a big heart was fighting the battle of his life not too long ago.
The Sky View Middle School sixth grader was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, at just three years old. But, thanks to cutting-edge treatment at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, he celebrated five years cancer-free in June.
His parents, Nestor and Gabriela, surprised him when he woke up the morning of the recent monumental milestone with balloons and decorations, photos of him, a big stuffed monkey and a sign that read “Keep Calm I’m 5 years cancer free.”
“He has to go back once a year for blood work just to make sure he is still cancer-free,” his mother said of the continued treatment plan following the “milestone for our family.”
Coming up on eight years ago, when Thiago was discharged from the hospital just before the first Halloween (Thiago’s favorite holiday) following his diagnosis, the Child Life Program staff had decorated the floor for the occasion. Thiago asked his mom if the kids there would be able to go out for trick-or-treating and when she said no, he asked if they could bring them goodie bags.
“That was the beginning,” Gabriela said of her son’s now ongoing tradition of brightening the lives of children and others fighting cancer at UMass. They asked their friends and family for donations for Halloween and then he decided to do something for Thanksgiving for those on the oncology unit at the hospital.
“Every year he brings 50 traditional Thanksgiving meals to the fifth floor to share with the families because we know how hard it is to be away from home without our loved ones,” his mother proudly said.
In addition, Thiago raises money to purchase Christmas toys for the children in the hospital. He asks for donations through his Team Thiago Facebook page and his old elementary school, Johnny Appleseed, would help him with the project every year.
“Don’t forget about the Easter baskets too,” Gabriela said. “This is every holiday only if we are allowed, because when COVID hit we had to stop for safety.”
As if that was not enough, the young, compassionate soul decided to start a lemonade stand at his home for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and to raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society back in September 2016 and did the same the next couple of years. At the most recent lemonade stand on Sept. 17 he raised $1,174 between the sale and Venmo donations, while Mayor Stephen DiNatale, city fire and police personnel and many community members stopped by to support the endeavor.
“It was such an awesome thing, he really is a smart guy,” said the DiNatale’s Chief of Staff Natalie Oliver, who knows the family and was also at the lemonade stand. “Thiago is very active in the community and always trying to help those who need it the most.”
The money raised will go towards Team Tiago’s fundraising efforts for the 24th annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run the family will be participating in this weekend, another yearly tradition of the family. Gabriela said they will walk with friends and family, “a small group but with lots of energy to kick cancer’s butt.”
When asked why her son is so passionate about raising awareness, funding for cancer research and, in particular, childhood cancer, she sent a video of Thiago explaining why.
“The reason why I’m trying to bring awareness to childhood cancer is because cancer is a super horrible thing that’s going on right now,” the bespectacled young man said emphatically. “I have so many friends that are still with cancer and they are going through treatment still. It is such a horrible thing to go through. And me as a cancer survivor I have gone through it, and I don’t want anybody else to go through it.
“That’s why I am doing lemonade stands and fundraisers to try and bring more awareness and more funds for childhood cancer because as you know the government only gives four percent of the money to childhood cancer. Four percent!” Thiago continued. “We need more, four percent for the children, we are the future and there can’t be any future without people, people like me. I survived and I want my friends to survive. That’s why I am trying to fund more money. I need your guys’ help to help me with my friends’ battle. Thank you guys so much.”
His parents, who are originally from Uruguay and have been married for ten years and together for “13 amazing years,” each moved to Fitchburg over 20 years ago and have two older children who live on their own. Gabriela said their youngest child took the money he raised from the first lemonade stand and “helped two families that the children were fighting against cancer.” Since then, Thiago has donated the proceeds to the hospital Gabriela called the family’s “second home and the place we bring all the donations.”
“With his lemonade stand he doesn’t make much, but he wants to make a difference,” she shared.
Gabriela said her son, who will turn 12 next month, is now like any typical tween — “super active, he is doing Taekwondo, he loves to play video games, and guess what, being on his phone,” she joked. She also described him as “funny, kind, and full of energy.”
“I am used to so much energy since I have a daycare at home but there are days that I need to rest and he doesn’t stop, but I really prefer it that way,” she quipped.
She recalled that even during the darkest times while battling cancer, Thiago remained positive, a true testament to his strong and determined character.
“The thing that always helped us keep going was he never complain about anything,” Gabriela said. “When he was sick, he was always smiling, and he had awful days, but he was always a happy boy. He is a happy boy, thank goodness.”
She said the thing her son wants the most in his life is for other children not to have to go through the same thing he went through.
“If you ask him what he wishes, he will say to find the cure for cancer,” Gabriela said. “He wants to give back in any way he can, because when he was really sick so many people helped him and he only has good memories from the darkest times of our life. He deserves all the credit. We are only here to support him and spread the word because kids get cancer too. We just want to share all the hard work Thiago is doing to bring awareness to childhood cancer.”
