Neighborhood unites to support Max’s battle
Ribbons, signs, lights greet boy’s return from treatment
By ELENA CRISTIANO - For the North County Times | Sunday, October 19, 2008 8:54 PM PDT ∞
Four-year-old Max Kleckner carves a pumpkin at his neighborhood party held last week to support his fight against cancer. (Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff Photographer)
Four-year -ld Max Kleckner wears a Superman cape at his neighborhood party held last week to support his fight against cancer. (Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff Photographer)
Four-year-old Max Spartacus Kleckner plays rough and tumble with the other kids in his Cardiff-By-The-Sea neighborhood as if nothing is wrong.
But something is terribly wrong.
It started out as a series of colds and ear infections that Max just couldn’t seem to fight off. When the right side of his head appeared slightly enlarged, the doctor said it was a swollen lymph node. Then, when Max’s eye seized, his parents rushed him to the hospital.
On July 4, four years from the day they got the long-awaited news that Max had been conceived, his parents, Mark Kleckner and Natalie Young, heard the words few parents can imagine hearing. He has a large, malignant brain tumor —- embryonic-type rhabdomyosarcoma. Within days, tests revealed the rare cancer had spread to Max’s bone marrow making it the dreaded stage IV, the most aggressive, deadly kind. Estimates of the survival rate for this type of cancer range from 20 percent to 50 percent.
Doctors told Young and Kleckner to treat each day with Max as a gift. Young says those are words all of us should live by.
Inoperable due to it’s location and size, the only true treatment option available to the family took them to Houston, Texas, for six weeks of proton radiation therapy under clinical trials at The Proton Therapy Center at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The residents of the 2100 block of Montgomery Avenue, where seven other children were born within two months of Max, quickly banded together in an effort to find out what they could do.
Led by neighbors Rae Martin and Kimberly Tilton-Riley, they have created Lights Up —- Cardiff, a series of events and fundraisers designed to raise awareness for Max’s plight and help the family face the enormous costs of a fierce battle that doctors say will be lifelong. Max’s family has health insurance but it does not cover the travel expenses or loss of work. Besides, they say their policy’s lifetime maximum is likely to be reached within a year.
When Max and his family returned from Texas to their small coastal community on Oct. 10, they were greeted by gold ribbons and welcome home signs. Harvest and Halloween lights and decorations were strewn about the block. Max understands they are for him and says it is "really fun."
His mother, Natalie, said Max is continually thrilled to see the outpouring of love and support from the once "distant and disconnected" neighborhood. "I think the positive energy surrounding us is partly why Max’s treatment has been so successful so far," Young said.
This past weekend neighbors, friends and family gathered to bob for apples, carve pumpkins and continue to foster the community spirit that is rallying around Max’s cause. Max was there, surrounded by children, laughing and playing in the autumn sunshine.
Neighbor LaVonda Gollner, who works at the Solana Beach Child Development Center, attended the party and has been keeping a photojournal, chronicalling Cardiff-By-The-Sea’s support of Max.
"This is the first time I’ve met Max," said Gollner. "It’s beautiful how the community has come together to help him."
Organizers of Lights Up —- Cardiff are asking the residents of the "walking district" of Cardiff-By-The-Sea, which is west of Interstate 5, south of Birmingham Drive and north of San Elijo Avenue, to hang lights and decorations in a "Candy Cane Lane-style" demonstration of support for Max.
On Saturday, Nov. 8, from 4 to 7 p.m., there will be a fundraiser at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. Tim Flannery and Friends will entertain and there will be live and silent auctions, for which donations are sought. Tickets for the 21-and-older event are $60 and available at the Belly Up box office or www.bellyup.com.
To learn more about Max Kleckner and Lights Up —- Cardiff visit www.maxspartacus.com. Donations can be made to P.O. Box 372, Del Mar, CA, 92014.
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