School rallies for boy with cancer

One Friday in November, 9-year-old Anthony Marco Perez finished another day at Adams Elementary School. He seemed like his usual self: shy, quiet, ingratiating, a huge fan of baseball and professional wrestling.

The next Monday, he wasn’t back in class. And then the school heard shattering news.

Marco, a fourth-grader at Adams, had been diagnosed with an inoperable, cancerous brain tumor. In the weeks since, students, teachers and others have banded together to provide for his family, and the school plans an elaborate fundraiser this month. For Principal Candy Cloud, it’s proof of how a community can step up to the plate, but she’s still feeling a little blindsided. He’s “an extremely nice young man,” she said. “He was quiet, but all his teachers liked him. He wanted to please and do his best.”

Marco — he usually goes by his middle name — has been in and out of the hospital since being diagnosed in November. No one can say exactly how much time he has left. According to Diane Chavez, the ministry coach for his church, it may only be a month or two; then again, Marco defied the odds once already. In November, Chavez said, doctors thought he wouldn’t last until Christmas, but after receiving a shunt treatment on his brain, he made it into the new year.

In the meantime, those at Adams — along with Palm Harvest Church in Costa Mesa, where his family worships — are aiming to support the Perezes as best they can. A teacher is dropping by Marco’s house to give lessons, while students held a candy cane sale in December to raise money. The school’s office clerk recently delivered a reclining chair so Marco could sit up at home.

On Jan. 20, the PTA plans to hold a four-hour extravaganza in the school multipurpose room, with games, food and other attractions. The goal is to collect at least $1,000, and it may cover more than a few expenses; Marco’s mother recently left her job to be with her son, Cloud said, and his brother suffered an arm injury in an August car accident.

“This family has really been put through the wringer,” said PTA President Tommie Griffon. “We’re just trying to raise money to make things a little easier.”

Marco’s family was not available for comment Wednesday, but Palm Harvest has kept a blog on its website, www.palmharvest.com, featuring updates on his condition. In the most recent post, the church’s pastor invited residents to read to Marco in his hospital room. Chavez said the church had already gathered more than $3,000 in donations.

“You see heroes at a time like this,” Cloud said. “People come forward from the goodness of their hearts to do whatever they can do to assist.”