Zumbathon held for R’dam teen with brain tumor
Mother’s Day is usually a happy day, but this year, Michelle DeLorenzo was given news no mother wants to hear.
DeLorenzo’s 14-year-old son, Devon LaPrade, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor after spending 12 hours in the emergency room to reach the diagnosis hours after Mother’s Day ended. The Rotterdam mother was stunned to hear the results, because she didn’t think the problem was too serious.
I wasn’t even going to take him to the hospital, but my sister insisted I really didn’t think that they were going to drop this on us, said DeLorenzo.
To help the family out, Best Fitness held a Zumbathon fundraiser on Saturday, June 25. Best Fitness’ group exercise room only holds 100 people, so in hopes of more coming, which did, the event was held outside in the parking lot. The Rotterdam Police Department donated barricades to close off the area.
`[Zumba] is something that appeals to not just the regular fitness crowd. It gets a lot of people active that are not gym people,` said Karly Taylor, chief operating officer for Best Fitness. `It is a huge craze and it is fun.`
More than 130 people showed up for the unique event and $2,476 was raised to help offset medical expenses incurred by the family.
LaPrade started to display some symptoms around a week or two before going to the ER, said DeLorenzo, which included walking `funny` and slurred speech. He is also out of the typical age for the tumor to form, because it is most common among 6- to 10-year-olds.
`I told him he had a migraine and gave him some Excedrin,` she said. `That wasn’t a symptom when we brought him to the hospital.`
She said before they brought him to the hospital, he said he thought he had a brain tumor.
`They don’t know what causes it and there is nothing I could have done to prevent it,` said DeLorenzo. `There is not a lot known about it.`
She said she’s been emailing doctors from all over, but they don’t usually have something confident to say about a treatment option.
`My options are very limited but I am not giving up on him because new stuff opens up every day. He is being very brave about this whole thing,` she said. `He knows what he is dealing with and he is very positive.`
The tumor is on his brain stem and it can’t be operated on. A biopsy also hasn’t been done yet because it is risky to do because of where the tumor is located.
`It is just in a bad spot,` she said.
He is nearly done with a round of radiation treatment and she said there have been some improvements. The treatment is only a temporary fix, though.
`I have been researching like crazy but it is just hard because since it is such a rare tumor there is not a lot out there,` said DeLorenzo. `We are trying to get him in a clinical trial there is no guarantees on getting him in.`
Also, since he already began radiation treatment, he is not eligible for some of the clinical trials. Most of the ones he isn’t eligible for involve chemotherapy, but DeLorenzo said it doesn’t appear to be an effective treatment at this point.
His family was wearing custom shirts during the event.
When Devon was first in the hospital, DeLorenzo’s oldest son went to the store and bought everyone Superman shirts. The shirt idea came from this, with the `S` replaced with a `D` and with `Believe` written above it for their belief there is a cure. His soccer number and last name are also on the back of the shirt. Now the family has started to sell the shirts themselves to help raise awareness and support.
`There are miracles and we are hoping there is one for Devon,` she said. `The love and support from our friends and families has been amazing.`
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