SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Best Present for Stefanie Is Money

Stefanie Gorman’s family, friends and even strangers will be paying to attend her 15th birthday party today. But they won’t mind, because the money will pay for her medical treatment.

Stefanie was stricken late last year with a particularly virulent strain of leukemia, and the subsequent chemotherapy, bone-marrow transplant and long hospital stays have depleted her $1-million health insurance policy, leaving her parents, Richard and Karen Gorman, $20,000 in debt with additional bills expected.

The Gormans’ family and friends have organized today’s event, which is scheduled from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Ortega Business Center at the corner of Ortega Highway and Rancho Viejo Road. Food will be sold, an auction of donated goods held, a 1950s-style rock-and-roll band and other entertainers will perform and donations will be collected. The group hopes to raise more than $20,000.

A trust fund has also been organized and donations can be made to: Friends of Stefanie, 28202 Cabot Road, Suite 310, Laguna Niguel, Calif. 92677.

The organizers say without the money, it is doubtful that Stefanie’s father, a contractor, and her mother, a medical office manager, would be able to pay for her treatment.

“It’s dreadful what can happen to a family when their money runs out,” said Clementine Ahacic, Stefanie’s maternal grandmother. “They have always had outstanding credit, but now they can’t even get a loan, even if it is for Stefanie.”

At her parents’ home early this week, Stefanie walked slowly down the stairs from her bedroom, her joints and muscles sore from effects of the disease and her treatment.

“I used to play soccer and swim a lot and go out with my friends,” she said. “The hardest part is when I have been in the hospital and I haven’t been allowed to see anybody except my parents and they had to wear masks. I miss getting up in the morning and going to school and seeing my friends.”

It was in late fall last year that Stefanie began to complain of chronic fatigue and was diagnosed at first as having Epstein-Barr disease. But by Christmas, it was clear, her parents say, that something was seriously wrong and it was then discovered that she had an adult form of leukemia. She was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Orange County in January and remained there into April.

It was then that she began undergoing chemotherapy and received a bone-marrow transplant from her 19-year-old brother, Tim.

Dr. Violet Shen, Stefanie’s oncologist at Children’s Hospital, said that patients who undergo successful bone-marrow transplants have a better than 60% chance of survival. Stefanie hopes that by September, she will be well enough to begin attending San Clemente High School and again play soccer and swim.

“And I want to go on a vacation,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be any big camping trip or anything. Maybe just a barbecue at the beach.”