Musical prayers

The 5-year-olds at Lil’ Lighthouse Preschool at Lighthouse Coastal Community Church in Costa Mesa bow their heads each afternoon to recite a simple prayer.

“Thank you for our healthy bodies,” one line in the prayer goes. The children recite in unison, sitting on the carpet of the church chapel with red and blue book bags still strapped to their backs.

The children ask daily about their absent classmate, Julian Dunn— a happy-go-lucky 5-year-old with an infectious smile who is interested in cars and loves to play with his friends, said Lil’ Lighthouse teacher Michelle Rieke.

Surgeons extracted a tumor about the size of a golf ball from Julian’s brain in an emergency surgery a few weeks before Christmas. The boy is back at home after a seven-week stay in the hospital and three surgeries, but doctors say Julian must undergo a rigorous 55 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy.

“They pray for him every day and make him cards, but it’s hard for them to understand how sick he really is,” Rieke said. “Even though he’s not here, he’s still a part of our class.”

Children from Lil’ Lighthouse will sing at a concert in March to help Julian’s family pay for his medical expenses. Julian’s father, Richard Dunn, is looking for other young musicians to play in the concert, which he envisions as an annual event that will help other families dealing with cancer. The inaugural Jammin’ for Julian concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. March 21 at Newport Mesa Church.

“We want to take one negative and turn it into five positives,” Richard Dunn said. “We couldn’t possibly imagine how difficult it would be for any family to go through this without any faith or support group — it’s a life-changing experience. More than just medical bills, we want our boy to survive.”

As Richard Dunn looks back at photographs of Julian taken just before doctors found a large tumor lodged in the lower back part of his brain, he notices now that his son looked gray and weak.

Julian was throwing up and complaining of headaches for weeks. He wasn’t eating and kept losing weight, said Julian’s mother, Andrea Dunn.

“The last few days before we found out, it was really like ‘what is going on here,’” she said.

Julian is usually a gregarious, outgoing child, Andrea Dunn said.

“Every day, he would walk into the kitchen and bring me a flower, he’s really a sweet, kind little boy,” Andrea Dunn said.

Richard and Andrea Dunn took their son to the doctor several times, but Julian’s pediatrician was puzzled and didn’t seem to have any easy answers about what was causing the boy’s problems.

Richard Dunn said he knew in his heart there was something seriously wrong when Julian was drawing a picture one day at home and fell to his knees after he tried to stand up. Problems with balance are one sign of a brain tumor, he said.

“He laughed and got right back up, but I knew something was wrong,” Richard Dunn said.

Julian’s parents took him to Children’s Hospital of Orange County for an emergency brain scan Dec. 5, where doctors discovered a large medulloblastoma, a type of malignant brain tumor, in his brain.

“When I heard the doctor say it, it was a big shock — is this really, truly happening. It was hard to believe, almost surreal,” Andrea Dunn said.

Julian was rushed into surgery the next day to remove the tumor. Surgeons from Children’s Hospital of Orange County were able to extract all but a small portion of the growth, which is wrapped around Julian’s brain stem. Doctors say Julian’s chances for recovery are good, about 85%, but he must undergo more than a year of radiation and chemotherapy. He spends about five hours a day in the hospital undergoing medical treatments that make him nauseous and weak.

Now the Dunns are facing tens of thousands of dollars in bills.

Both Richard and Andrea Dunn are self-employed. Richard Dunn works in media relations, and Andrea Dunn is a grant proposal writer for nonprofit groups.

Although they have health insurance, Julian’s need for round-the-clock care and daily hospital visits have made it hard for the Dunns to continue to work. They hope the Jammin’ for Julian concert, which Richard Dunn is organizing, will help bring in money to help pay for Julian’s medical expenses. Richard Dunn wants the concert to grow, becoming an annual event for young musicians to raise money for other families.

“We have no choice that this happened to us, but we want to go through it in a way that would let God’s light shine,” he said.

HOW TO HELP

Organizers of the Jammin’ for Julian open children’s pop concert are looking for musicians and singers from preschool to sixth grade to perform in a fundraiser to help a family pay for medical bills while their 5-year-old son, Julian, continues treatment for a brain tumor at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange. The Dunn family intends to keep the open children’s pop concert going in the future to raise funds through CHOC for other families in need. The concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. March 21. The Lil’ Lighthouse Preschool Choir will perform at the benefit, along with other soloists, duets and group performances. The benefit will be hosted by Newport Mesa Church, 2599 Newport Blvd. Donations are not tax deductible. For more information on performing in the event, contact Richard Dunn at (949) 752-5223 or dunnwriter@yahoo.com.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.