Family, friends rally around Lake Park High grad with cancer
Chris Howe's hair was so out of control, his friends nicknamed him "Fro."
Looks like Fro is going to need a new nickname.
The Lake Park High School alum joined nearly 100 friends and family members Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Roselle for a fundraiser to benefit an old schoolmate battling cancer.
Mark Perry was diagnosed in January with a rare and aggressive form of cancer known as ALK+ Diffused B-cell Lymphoma.
Ten people, including one very upset 2-year-old, shaved their heads for the event, which is raising money to pay for Perry's medical bills.
"This is way more people than I ever expected to see," said Perry, who's expected to begin his fourth round of chemotherapy later this week.
Perry's symptoms began last fall with excruciating back pain and a lump he found on his abdomen. Trips to his first few doctors didn't uncover the eventual condition. And since he was uninsured, Perry was hesitant about going to an emergency room to get a more extensive exam.
"This kid was taking six to eight scalding showers a day to numb the pain," said Donna Perry, Mark's mother. "He was downing pain pills like they were candy. Not one of his first few doctors even bothered to take a blood test."
By his 21st birthday in January, Mark was diagnosed and seeing specialists at Northwestern University Medical Center.
Mike Bresnahan, a family friend who organized Saturday's fundraiser, said the roughly $4,000 it netted will be used to pay for some of Perry's past medical bills, as well as incidental expenses related to his cancer treatment, such as parking passes for friends who visit him at the downtown Chicago hospital. Perry is in the process of applying for public aid to help defray the cost of some of his medical expenses.
"We just don't know what's coming around the bend," Bresnahan said. "The doctors are saying his is the only known active case of cancer of this kind in the world, so there are so many unknowns right now."
In addition to Saturday's event, the family is planning a second concert fundraiser in June.
To contact the family or make a donation, call Bresnahan at (773) 983-4718.