Fundraiser set for Christopher Timpone
The Riverhead High School Council for Unity will hold a fundraiser Sunday night to benefit 9-year-old Christopher Timpone, a fourth-grader at Aquebogue Elementary School who was recently diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer.
The event will take place Sunday, Jan. 15, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Wildwood Lanes bowling alley in Riverhead. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door on the night of the event or by calling Riverhead High School. The coordinator for Council for Unity, an anti-gang student enrichment group, is teacher Garrett Moore.
Christopher underwent more than eight hours of surgery Monday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan to remove a tumor, according to his aunt Dawn Thomas.
“The tumor he has is located in the left side of his jaw, so they removed the tumor, which entailed removing a part of his jawbone itself,” Ms. Thomas said. They replaced the jawbone with a piece of bone from his leg, which was then grafted on, she said.
And, she added, the prognosis looks good so far.
“The doctors are happy with the outcome of the surgery,” she said. “It looks like all of the cancer was removed.”
Christopher has been undergoing chemotherapy every third week since Oct. 14 and still has two or three more rounds to go. When he goes to the city for chemo, he stays four to five days, she said.
Christopher’s parents, Kathleen and Tom, take turns staying with him in the city, Ms. Thomas said.
Theresa Drozd, a student and community service specialist at the high school who works with the Council for Unity, said the students wanted to do something to help someone in the community, and one of them brought in an article about Christopher.
A fundraiser organized by the family in November at Eagle’s Landing Restaurant at Calverton Links drew several hundred people.
Those wishing to help can also sign up to make a meal for the Timpone family by visiting the website takethemameal.com and searching for the Timpone family.
The family also has a Facebook site called Courage, Strength and Faith for Christopher to update Christopher’s progress.
“It will be a tough recovery and frustrating for him with the limitations placed on him, but I have no doubt he will come through great and better than ever,” Kathleen Timpone wrote on the site Tuesday.
