cancer fight

Moody’s Lucky Ducks marching alongside PE teacher going through chemo

May 28, 2023 by pkzadmin

LEOMINSTER — The Fall Brook Elementary School community is rallying around longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody in a big way as the beloved educator battles cancer.

Longtime Fall Brook Elementary School physical education teacher Lorna Moody is feeling the love from the Leominster school community and beyond as she goes through chemo treatments. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO)

Moody has been teaching at Fall Brook for 26 years and was diagnosed with uterine cancer at the end of January. When people found out, they wanted to do what they could to show support for her so the school community — including students, families, colleagues, and alumni — came up with the idea to make t-shirts imprinted with the words “Moody’s Lucky Ducks” in all caps with a picture of a rubber duck, a favorite of the teacher.

“Students from the past and present were so intent on doing whatever we could to help her on her journey,” Assistant Principal Lynn Fiandaca said of the inspiration behind the t-shirts.

Once the idea was planted, everyone rallied together to order, organize, and deliver an astounding 700 t-shirts to community members.

Mondays have officially been deemed as Moody Mondays at Leominster's Fall Brook Elementary School, where students and staff don Moody's Lucky Ducks t-shirts in support of longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody as she battles cancer. (COURTESY TESS DAVIS) — Mondays have officially been deemed as Moody Mondays at Leominster’s Fall Brook Elementary School, where students and staff don Moody’s Lucky Ducks t-shirts in support of longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody as she battles cancer. (COURTESY TESS DAVIS)

“We had enough donations so that every student at Fall Brook was given a t-shirt,” Fall Brook Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization President Katie McNamara proudly shared. “The theme was created by a Fall Brook teacher, as Ms. Moody loves rubber ducks and would often have rubber duck hunts in the building for staff. She would award prizes to teachers who found a duck hidden in some creative space, somewhere in the building. Some of the prizes were an extra gym class for students or a scratch ticket for the teacher. All of this was done as a way to have a little bit of fun before school and help to build a strong, positive culture in the building.”

The t-shirts have been faithfully sported over the last several months on the days when Moody has had surgery or chemotherapy treatments — and then someone came up with the idea to wear them weekly.

“At Fall Brook, and for the outside community, we have officially deemed Mondays as Moody Mondays,” Fiandaca said. “On this day we wear our shirts to show a sense of unity and community for our teacher. We all wear our shirts to let her know we are thinking of her. We take pictures throughout the day and send them to her as a way to show her how much we love and care about her. Students love that they are able to find a way to show Moody how much they care.”

Fall Brook Elementary School second grade teacher Katie Oldfield and two students sport Moody's Lucky Ducks t-shirts in support of longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody as she battles cancer. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO) — Fall Brook Elementary School second grade teacher Katie Oldfield and two students sport Moody’s Lucky Ducks t-shirts in support of longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody as she battles cancer. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO)

McNamara, a longtime city resident who has two children attending Fall Brook, echoed her sentiments and stated that “words cannot express how much Ms. Moody represents the spirit and culture of our school.”

“Ms. Moody is a staple in our school community,” McNamara said. “She has worked with literally thousands of students at Fall Brook and as a physical education teacher, she always, always goes above and beyond. Moody, as we like to call her, has organized so many incredible opportunities for our students to practice their academic and physical skills.”

McNamara noted some of the enjoyable educational programs the dedicated PE teacher has implemented at the school, including creating a school-wide climbing program for students in grade three, four, and five; the Amazing Math Race for multiple grade levels to practice math skills in conjunction with physical skills; field day which occurs every spring; and even district wide events such as Fifth Grade Survivor, where all fifth-grade students in the district to come together for a fun day filled with physical and learning activities.

“She also helped to organize Fall Brook’s Tree Farm for Charity, coached middle school sports throughout her career, and even at times offered her assistance in math classes as extra support,” McNamara said of Moody. “She does whatever it takes to make sure there is a sense of community in the building that extends far beyond the four walls of her gym. Everyone in our building agrees that she is Fall Brook.”

Leominster's Fall Brook Elementary School community is showing their support for longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody, who is going through chemo treatments for cancer, by donning Moody's Lucky Ducks t-shirts. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO) — Leominster’s Fall Brook Elementary School community is showing their support for longtime physical education teacher Lorna Moody, who is going through chemo treatments for cancer, by donning Moody’s Lucky Ducks t-shirts. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO)

When asked what she loves most about her job, Moody expressed why she enjoys it.

“I love the desire of all the students wanting to learn and be healthy,” she said. “PE is important for everyone’s health, and it can be a lot of fun! Climbing is my favorite, and challenging students mentally and physically.”

She said her “favorite day of the year,” Field Day, is coming up at the beginning of June and that the Fall Brook community “is joining forces to keep the fun day going” in her absence as she goes through treatment.

Leominster Public Schools Superintendent Paula Deacon has been spotted wearing the now iconic Moody’s Lucky Ducks t-shirt and McNamara said that Moody “consistently shares how she is overwhelmed by all of the support.”

“She has shared her gratitude by communicating to families through videos, texts, and emails,” McNamara said. “She has even surprised students taking the MCAS with a video cheering them on and giving them a little extra boost of confidence.”

Beloved Fall Brook Elementary School physical education teacher Lorna Moody has been teaching at the Leominster school for 26 years. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO) — Beloved Fall Brook Elementary School physical education teacher Lorna Moody, pictured here with her students, has been teaching at the Leominster school for 26 years. (COURTESY FALL BROOK ELEMENTARY PTO)

Moody said that while going through chemo “is tiring physically” and that she misses being with everyone, she truly appreciates the students, teachers, families, staff and more lifting her up.

“It means the world to me,” Moody revealed, adding that Fall Brook “has been my family for 26 years.”

“I love all of Fall Brook, past and present. I have some of my students’ kids now, as well as a few as co-teachers’ [kids]. I miss seeing my students every day. Having them and my peers supporting me keeps me going with a positive attitude.”

Two years later, Pepperell Police Chief David Scott continues to fight

March 23, 2023 by pkzadmin

PEPPERELL — In more than four decades with the Police Department, Chief David Scott had never faced a threat quite like the one he found at the doctor’s office.

In 2021, Scott was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. By the time it was found, the disease had spread to his liver and lungs.

The prognosis was not good. But, in spite of that, Scott has continued to serve the community as best he can — in fact, it has largely been the community and that service, he said, that has kept him going.

“For me, it’s all about the community; I love my job, I love to serve, to give back to the people of Pepperell,” Scott said. “And I’m going to continue to do that as much as I can for as long as I can.”

“There have certainly been ups and downs, but I’m still here. I’m still fighting,” he said.

Pre-diagnosis, Scott chalked his sudden discomfort up to a stomach bug that had gone around the Police Department. But, after a visit with his doctor, he was whisked away to Ayer’s Nashoba Valley Medical Center for further testing.

In his mind, what Scott thought was a simple bug suddenly morphed into a scary unknown. Maybe a heart condition, he thought, or something worse; “the internet was certainly no help,” he said.

Those fears were realized to the extreme at NVMC; there, after a series of tests, doctors found cancer — worse, the tumors had spread significantly. It “wasn’t an easy conversation,” Scott said.

“I thought for sure that the worst-case scenario was going to be some kind of heart condition,” he said. “But, the doctor came to me and, suddenly, I had cancer — and it was bad.”

Beyond the initial shock, Scott said his thoughts concerned his family, his future quality of life and whatever time he might have left. But, through that concern also rose optimism, despite a bleak and blunt prognosis.

“They told me I was probably going to live ‘years, but not decades,’” he said. “That sounds kind of generic, but it’s better than six months — certainly better than what I expected them to say at the time.”

Scott almost immediately returned to work and, out of an abundance of care for the community, made it a point to spread the word and push those that might be at risk to visit their doctors. Soon after, the American Cancer Society also lowered the recommended age for regular colonoscopies from 50 years old to 45; Scott was 49 years old when he was diagnosed.

“I told people almost immediately,” Scott said. “The hope was that people would go, get checked themselves and sort of get ahead of anything they might be dealing with.”

“I know at least a few people that have gotten checked because of me. So, if I helped them even a little, I see that as a major positive,” he said.

In turn, the community has done what it can to repay his kindness. Whether through a simple gesture — a “how are you?” or a pick-me-up on a bad day — or the support of Team 14, a Dana Farber Marathon Challenge and Jimmy Fund Walk team put together by fellow Officer Justin Zink and Scott’s son, Brian, that has raised more than $20,000 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund, Scott described their support as “incredible,” but not surprising.

“From the jump, everybody has been super supportive,” he said. “I can’t leave the building without somebody asking me how I’m feeling, how I’m doing.”

“But that’s the Pepperell community, that’s the way they’ve always been. They rally around each other, they’ve been there for me and I just can’t thank them enough,” he said.

Since his diagnosis, Scott’s care has largely remained the same aside from “altered doses here and there.” Every other Wednesday, he has undergone chemotherapy treatment; Wednesday, March 15 marked his 50th appointment, while the end of March will mark two years from his first treatment.

In the beginning, Scott’s tumors saw a reduction in size of “about 60%” and, since, have largely remained stable — “As far as I and everyone at Dana Farber are concerned, that’s good news,” he said. Scott continued to thank his family, friends and the community for that progress.

“The biggest thing for me has been my wife, Karen — she’s there with me at every treatment, she does a lot of research, she knows more about cancer than I do at this point,” Scott said. “I can’t thank her enough for the time and work she has put in, it’s what’s kept me going.”

“The community at large, friends, others at the Police Department, people around town, they’ve helped create a positive atmosphere — they’ve kept me positive and I truly believe that’s tied into how I’ve been, health-wise. I just can’t thank them enough for being so supportive,” he said.

To those that face their own serious illness, cancer or otherwise, Scott stressed that they need to keep their head high and cannot be afraid to lean on others for support. That sort of “positive atmosphere” can make a world of difference, he said, as they undergo treatment and continue to fight “the good fight.”

“Everybody’s cancer is different, every disease is different — and I know how difficult it can be sometimes, but you have to stay positive,” Scott said. “Stay upbeat, put some faith in your care team, lean on others when you need to and just keep fighting the good fight.”

The story of a year told through photographs

December 31, 2022 by pkzadmin

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.

A resilient teenager and a family in need; Olivia Perez fights cancer with a smile

December 15, 2022 by pkzadmin

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

October 31, 2022 by pkzadmin

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

October 30, 2022 by pkzadmin

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.

11-year-old Inigo Vega of Leominster with one of his favorite nurses at Boston Children's Hospital, Meaghan, who is part of the dedicated medical teams helping him fight brain cancer. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY) — 11-year-old Inigo Vega of Leominster with one of his favorite nurses at Boston Children’s Hospital, Meaghan, who is part of the dedicated medical teams helping him fight brain cancer. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY)

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.

Lyndi Vega loves on her 11-year-old son Inigo, who was diagnosed with brain cancer a year ago. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY)

“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.”

11-year-old Inigo Vega of Leominster has captured the hearts of the medical professionals who have been helping him fight brain cancer with radiation, chemotherapy, and more. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY)

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.

The Vega family is facing 11-year-old Inigo's brain cancer together as a tightknit family unit with grit, determination, and bravery. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY) — The Vega family is facing 11-year-old Inigo’s brain cancer together as a tightknit family unit with grit, determination, and bravery. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY)

“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.

Inigo Vega of Leominster, pictured here with his mom Lyndi, has been able to revisit his love of mountain biking post brain cancer diagnosis thanks to a recumbent bike. (COURTESY THE VEGA FAMILY)

“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.”

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