WPIAL Section 4 girls’ teams raise awareness for DIPG
Despite being diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), Lauren Hill, a 19-year-old Mount St. Joseph freshman persevered. In November, she fulfilled her dream of playing college basketball when she scored the first points, off the opening tipoff, in her team’s win against Hiram. Plus, she raised awareness and millions of dollars for pediatric brain cancer research.
“She became an inspiration to the country and especially the basketball community,” said Bethel Park head coach Jonna Burke.
In Burke’s own community a similar story is playing out as Joey Fabus and his family battle the disease. The 8-year-old Bethel Park resident has also been diagnosed with DIPG. His father, David, has taken leave from his job as a contractor. His mother, Cindy, is a nurse, but has cut back on her hours. Fabus is the youngest of their five children.
“They have taken time off their jobs or reduced their hours drastically to be with Joey every minute possible,” Burke explained. “As you can imagine, supporting a family of five and having outrageous medical bills must be overwhelming.”
Undaunted, Burke and her girls’ basketball players have also launched an initiative to promote awareness of the illness and the plight people like Fabus are encountering locally.
On Feb. 2, girls’ basketball teams in Section 4-AAAA will wear specially designed T-shirts during their pre-game warm-ups. The T-shirts are dyed according to each team’s color and sport a graphic on the front depicting a capital letter C with lines going through it with the words “end childhood cancer DIPG.org” blazoned on the bottom. In addition to the Lady Hawks, Baldwin, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers Valley, Mt. Lebanon, Moon, Upper St. Clair, Peters Township and West Allegheny have agreed to participate.
The Bethel Park Girls Basketball Boosters are handling expenditures and after defraying the costs of the T-shirts, the organization will make a donation to the Fabus family with a card signed with each team’s name.
“By no means did anyone have to do this, but I thought it would be a nice idea to wear the T-shirts during warm ups. I didn’t want anyone to feel burdened by this,” said Burke.
“I realize that it’s more than midway through the season, but I think there’s still time to make a difference. The bottom line is to raise money for this family and to bring some local awareness to this disease.”
To learn more about different ways to help, follow @LittleJoeysArmy on Twitter or visit Joey’s Journey on Facebook.