10-year-old's brain cancer latest challenge for South Elgin family

Tamara Srdanovich's twin boys suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Asperger's syndrome. And now, one of them is fighting brain cancer — a challenge that makes people wonder how one family copes with it all.

“You never plan for anything like this. You'd never think this would happen,” said Srdanovich, of South Elgin, whose 10-year-old son, Ben, has been an inpatient at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago the last two months. “I thought I had enough on my plate. But you just have to keep walking and keep moving forward.”

Relatives, friends and neighbors, along with the Thornwood Homeowners Association, have organized Benapalooza from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 20 at Thornwood Sports Core, 850 E. Thornwood Drive, South Elgin, to help the family with medical expenses and costs associated with making their home wheelchair accessible.

There will be three live bands, a bounce house, face painting, food, a bake-a-thon, raffle prizes and a dunk tank organized by students of Corron Elementary School, where Ben's twin brother, Zak, and sister, Hannah, 9, attend.

“I feel bad for the challenges they've had, but they've embraced it,” neighbor Tara Azzano said. “You'd never hear them say anything bad about what they've gone through.”

Ben was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme after he lost consciousness June 7, followed by brain surgery that doctors said removed at least 98 percent of the aggressive tumor. In the process, however, he also suffered some brain stem damage, his mother said.

At first, Ben was paralyzed and couldn't breathe on his own. He's now off the ventilator but can't move his right side — he can wiggle his right hand, though. At one point he was able to stand up, but recently suffered a setback, his mother said. He's also had to overcome lung failure and trouble with his kidneys and liver, and underwent six weeks of radiation therapy.

Tamara Srdanovich, a former nurse, stays at the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago to be by Ben's side while her husband Mirko, an appraiser, takes care of Zak and Hannah at home and visits on weekends. The illness has been tough on the whole family, she said.

“We are praying for a miracle — and it will be a miracle, really,” she said. “We call this cancer The Beast. It's not a good cancer.”

Still, Ben, who attends a school in St. Charles for kids with special needs, has maintained a remarkably good attitude throughout his ordeal, his mother said. “He's kept his sense of humor through this all,” she said. “He has a few sad days, yes. He knows he has cancer. But he's knows we're fighting it. And the community has been so amazing.”

The family hopes Ben will be able to come home Oct. 1. Construction is under way to build a ramp, install hardwood floors and renovate the master bathroom. The family needs an electric wheelchair for Ben, who now uses a loaner and loves his newfound measure of independence. Someone has donated a van with a wheelchair lift, but Ben seems to be allergic to its dog hair residue, so the family might need a different one, she said.

“I want to thank so many people who have helped and are helping,” she said. “God is so good. That's my strength and my hope and my prayer for the future. For Ben and for my family. Obviously, we are doing everything with the doctors that we can do to help him. Obviously, I want to make his life as wonderful as it can be.”

For more information, visit facebook.com/BensWarriors or gofundme.com/BensVillage. Checks can be mailed to Benjamin Srdanovich, 490 Carriage Way, South Elgin, IL 60177.