The Knights of Columbus Golf Tournament is hosting its annual golf tournament on August 4 at the Manada Golf Club in Grantville. The event benefits Collin Kratzer, who's endured more than any little boy should have to.
I've met him. He has some story.
The deadline to register is Saturday, July 28th.
Here's Collin's story, which was provided to me:
In April of 2010 at the age of 16 months, Collin was diagnosed at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital with high-risk Medulloblastoma, a brain tumor that had spread to his spine.
He underwent surgery to remove the tumor, five rounds of high dose chemotherapy, a sixth round of chemotherapy followed by an autologous stem-cell rescue, and survived the life-threatening complication of veno-occlusive disease following the stem-cell rescue.
He had three rounds of maintenance chemo at home from January through August of 2011, and was free of any disease.
Unfortunately, a routine MRI on October 26, 2011 showed a new nodule growing in Collin’s brain.
He had another round of chemotherapy before Thanksgiving that dissolved the new nodule. After Christmas, he had a Gamma Knife procedure to that area of his brain in an attempt to kill any remaining tumor cells that couldn't be seen. He also underwent daily drug therapy at home.
In the Spring of 2012, Collin traveled weekly to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City where he received a radioactive 3F8 treatment which was injected directly into his brain through an ommaya reservoir. Unfortunately a follow-up MRI at the end of the 3F8 treatment indicated that the cancer had returned in 4-5 areas of Collin’s brain.
Now, at the end of July 2012, Collin and his family will travel to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas to pursue proton radiation to his brain and spine. It is expected that the course of treatment will be 4-8 weeks.
Knowing the tremendous financial burden that the family may face for Collin’s treatment, friends of the Kratzers have set up The Fund for the Care and Cure of Collin Kratzer at PNC Bank to assist the Kratzer family with the financial costs of Collin's medical treatments and related expenses.
For more information about Collin’s journey, please visit: www.facebook.com/CollinCureageous orhttp://littleprinceyfellow.blogspot.com
