When doctors discovered a brain stem tumor in little Westen Smith last year, his family found themselves facing a lot of debt stemming from hospital stays and travel for medical appointments.
Help for Westen, who is 2 and a half, and his parents, Leichelle and Phillip Smith, came from funds provided through the Kids and Cancer Motorcycle Benefit Run which is staging its 20th annual fundraiser Saturday. Over the past two decades, the benefit has donated approximately $400,000 to local charities, hospitals and children with life-threatening illnesses in Pennsylvania and New York state, according to Dave Geitner, president of Kids and Cancer.
For the Smiths, who also have another 8-year-old child, Elleina, help from Kids and Cancer couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Leichelle Smith said she had a normal pregnancy and delivery for Westen, but noticed he was tipping his head to the side when he was just a little over a year old.
Neurology tests were eventually conducted and revealed Westen had a brain stem tumor. Surgery to obtain tissue for a biopsy was conducted at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Unfortunately, Westen bled a great deal during the procedure, which caused his heart to stop and required that he receive a blood transfusion, his mother recalled. Westen was stabilized and sterile gauze was packed in his head by surgeons. The gauze was removed by surgeons over a week later.
“So we didn’t get the biopsy, and we don’t know exactly what he has,” Leichelle Smith said, but noted doctors don’t believe the tumor is cancerous. Complications from the operation, however, required a two-week hospital stay for the child.
“When he first came home from the hospital, I had to drive to Pittsburgh twice a week,” she said, noting Westen required speech and physical therapy, as well as doctor visits in Pittsburgh. While the travel to Pittsburgh has lessened, Westen has to have MRIs every six months.
The end result has been lots of travel, lost work time and concerns with finances.
Leichelle Smith, an Evergreen Elm employee in residential services and the medication monitoring program, said she learned of Kids and Cancer from her supervisor, Laurie Ludwig. Smith said Ludwig, who is on the Kids and Cancer committee, asked her questions about their financial concerns resulting from Westen’s issues, without sharing why she wanted to know.
“She was real sneaky about it by calling and asking me questions,” Leichelle Smith said, laughing at the memory. She said her husband, who is a construction worker, doesn’t have sick leave. While the family uses her employee health insurance, her husband’s time away from work was lost income for the family.
Fortunately, the Smiths got a helping hand with a mortgage payment as well as a car payment from Kids and Cancer. She said the payments were a big help to the family.
Leichelle Smith said Kids and Cancer officials have also told her they are available to help them further, if the need arises.
“They’ve told me if we need anything else, just ask,” she added.
When contacted, Ludwig said she admires the program because it reaches out to families in need.
“I guess that’s what is unique with Kids and Cancer, we don’t wait for people to speak up for help,” she remarked. “If we know of somebody in need, we approach them.”
Ludwig said the nonprofit organization also asks sponsors and donors to keep them notified if they know of youngsters and their families who need assistance.
“We want to help as many people as we can,” she concluded.
Registration for the benefit run is from 9 to 11:45 a.m. Saturday in the Zippo south parking lot on Congress Street. The bikes will depart at noon.
Additional information and updates on the Kids and Cancer event will be published in an upcoming issue of The Era.
