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Mesa boy, 9, honorary cancer run starter

BY ASHLYN ROBINETTE

Tribune Contributor

A9-year-old Mesa boy was the honorary starter for the Children’s Cancer Network’s 11th annual run to fight last weekend at Salt River Fields. The Run to Fight Children’s Cancer celebrated Arizona’s cancer-fighting superheroes and honored those who have lost their battle while raising awareness and funds for Arizona cancer families in need.

This year’s race featured two-time cancer survivor Christian Lopez as the honorary starter.

“Each year we look for a family who represents all families and the challenges and hardships they face with childhood cancer,” said Patti Luttrell, co-founder and executive director of CCN.

Christian’s journey hasn’t been easy.

When Christian lost sight in his right eye in 2016, doctors discovered a “SpiderMan-like” tumor weaving a web around his brain. Surgeons removed as much of the cancer as possible and monitored six other small tumors.

The tumors grew, necessitating a regimen of oral chemo pills. Fortunately, the tumors are now virtually unnoticeable.

Christian is now blind and on his second round of chemo.

Yet, he hasn’t let cancer limit him. Instead, he stays busy riding his bike, playing the drums and doing karate, according to his mother, Brenda Lopez.

While celebrating his own progress and resiliency, Christian inspired others as the honorary race starter. CCN played a large part in helping the Lopez family overcome challenges, Brenda said.

“We saw so many families who haven’t had resources and the difference that it can make in a family’s ability to rise to the challenge and ability to cope,” Luttrell said, recalling her own experience when her son had cancer. “You feel very alone,” she said. “That was somewhere we wanted to make a difference.”

CCN picks up where hospitals and insurance companies leave off, serving as a primary point of contact for families from the time of diagnosis, throughout their cancer journey and into long-term survivorship. The nonprofit lends financial support to families, promotes education about cancer-related issues, and sponsors activities that build the self-esteem of childhood cancer patients and their siblings.

When Grand Canyon University started the Run to Fight Children’s Cancer 11 years ago, CCN was just a beneficiary of the race, Luttrell said. It wasn’t until three years ago that the University handed over the reins for CCN to further the mission and grow it larger.

The race raised more than $100,000 for pediatric cancer research and care. ■ Though cancer has left him blind, 9-yearold Christian Lopez isn’t letting the disease

define him. (Special to the Tribune)

Mesa woman creates benefit concert for stricken dad

BY CECILIA CHAN Tribune Staff Writer

Leo Flake looked forward to his retirement in January after working as a truck driver and heavy-equipment operator.

But before the 67-year-old Heber resident could enjoy it, he was diagnosed with ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in February. The progressive neurodegenerative disease affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, leading to eventual paralysis and death.

But there is an experimental treatment the family wants to try but it comes at a hefty price – $1,000 a week for four weeks. The treatment is not FDA-approved and therefore considered experimental so Medicare and health insurance will not pay for it, according to daughter Taia Joy Flake of Mesa.

So, in August Taia began putting out a call on social media for people willing to

LEO FLAKE

perform in a benefit concert to help her dad pay for the treatment. Over a dozen performers from throughout the Valley answered her call for the benefits concert to be held later this month at a Gilbert church. Several performers are from Hale Centre Theatre, where Taia worked before the pandemic forced layoffs.

“By the time he was diagnosed he lost muscles in his hand and in his thumb,” said Christine Flake, adding her husband had gone to nine doctors for almost three years before he was diagnosed.

Today, Leo has lost 42 pounds of muscles in his chest and shoulders and he has lost the use of his arms. The 5’9” Heber resident went from 230 pounds down to 188 in a matter of months.

“It went quite quickly,” Christine said. “His shoulders are like skin and bones now.”

There is no cure for the disease and the two FDA-approved drugs for treatment such as Rilutek prolongs life by three months on average.

“All they do is extend their life two to three months and by that time, they don’t want their lives to be extended,” Christine said.

Small-business owners and local artists have donated toward a silent auction to help the family.

“I have lots of wonderful friends from Hale and from the Valley and in Gilbert that really rose to the occasion,” said Taia. The goal is to raise $4,000, enough for the first month of treatment, she said, adding her dad has remained hopeful through his ordeal.

“Mentally, he has not changed,” she said. “He is optimistic. It’s a battle because you lose another part of yourself and that is really discouraging. He is trying really hard and doing what the doctors say and the most important thing is to stay active.”

She added her dad is a man of faith who believes in God’s plan, which keeps him going.

THE MESA TRIBUNE | OCTOBER 24, 2021

EVIT Foundation breakfast raises bucks for scholarships

TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF

The East Valley Institute of Technology Education Foundation will host its annual gourmet breakfast fundraiser Nov. 3, and some of the best-known names in Valley politics are among those making an appearance.

Slated for 7:30 a.m. in the Culinary Arts Banquet Hall on the EVIT Campus, 1601 W. Main St., Mesa, the event generates funding for scholarships that help vocational and career-minded Mesa students learn a trade while simultaneously earning their high school diplomas.

Featuring a gourmet meal prepared by culinary students, many of whom are also scholarship recipients, the event also includes a silent auction, stories from student beneficiaries and appearances Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone and Veronica Penzone, owner of BBV Salon in Scottsdale.

Serving as emcees for the event are Kenny Sargent and Crash Gladys of SpeedFreaks, a nationally syndicated motorsports and lifestyle radio show they co-host. Sargent, a former sports anchor in Los Angeles, has appeared on Animal Planet and other television networks. Gladys was the only female to host a full-time sports radio show in Phoenix for seven years.

The EVIT Education Foundation’s mission is to ensure that every student who wants to learn a particular trade or career path through East Valley Institute of Technology programs can do so – regardless of financial status.

The foundation was able to bring on a new partner and the title sponsor of this year’s breakfast, the Chapman Automotive Group.

“We owe a great deal to our sponsors, without whom this event wouldn’t be possible,” said the EVIT Education Foundation’s Chairman Curt Krizan. “This year, we helped send almost 300 local students through vocational or career-training programs, and it’s because of these sponsorships – and our generous donors – that we have been able to increase the number of students served year over year.”

Tickets are at EVITFoundation.org. ■

Young Mesa pianist performing in concert today

TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF

A2021 Red Mountain High School graduate is returning from college for the weekend to appear as the featured pianist with the Musica Nova Orchestra today, Oct. 24, in Scottsdale.

Sharon Hui, a Mesa native who is a freshman at the University of Colorado and the winner of the Arizona Piano Institute’s concerto competition, will be playing with the orchestra at 2 p.m. today at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets can be purchased at scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

Hui, 18, holds an Associate Diploma in Piano Performance (ARSM) from the Royal Schools of Music.

She has attended and performed in the

SHARON HUI

Arizona Piano Institute Summer Festival, the New Orleans Piano Institute Festival, the University of Houston International Piano Festival, and most recently, the Lamont Summer Academy in Denver, Colorado. In March 2020, she earned first prize at the East Valley Music Teachers Association Piano Competition. Despite the pandemic, Sharon continued to compete and was selected as state alternate in the Yamaha Senior Piano Competition. In 2021, she placed second in the Arizona Musicfest Young Musicians Competition and was awarded the Amy Fu Memorial Award for the best performance of a work by Beethoven at the Angelo and Micheline Addona Arizona Young Artist Piano Competition.

She later won second-prize at the Arizona State Music Teachers Association James R. Anthony Honors Recital and was named the recipient of the MTNA Pee-Yaw Lim Wilkes Endowment Award. She was also selected as a finalist in the Arizona Piano Institute First Virtual Solo Competition for North America and won honorable mention in the Steinway/Avanti Future Stars Competition.

Hui is the recipient of the College of Music and Chancellor’s Achievement scholarships from the University of Colorado at Boulder, as well as the Arizona Musicfest Scholarship.

Hui’s appearance with the Musica Nova Orchestra, performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, marks her concerto debut as the first-prize winner of the 2019 Arizona Piano Institute Festival Concerto Competition. ■

ALS from page 15

Christine said she and her husband were totally caught off guard by their daughter organizing the fundraiser and the people who willingly stepped forward to help.

“These people are giving of their time and taken to help us fight this battle,” she said. “We are totally thrilled and in awe of this generosity.” That said, Christine and Leo know they are up against the clock.

The life expectancy for someone with ALS is two to five years and doctors in February have told Leo that he was already two years into the disease’ progression.

“What was really upsetting is they literally told him to go home and eat ice cream, don’t lose any weight and do what you were going to do in the future now,” Christine said. “There are things that have been tested and the FDA will not approve them or has not. It’s frustrating for people who have ALS. There is no time to wait.” ■

HOW TO HELP ...

What: Benefits concert and silent auction for Leo Flake’s ALS treatments When: 6 p.m., auction, 7 p.m. concert, Thursday, Oct. 28 Where: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1010 S. Recker Road, Gilbert Cost: Single Ticket, $15; Single ticket plus Livestream, $17; Couple ticket, $24 (two people) and Family ticket, $40 (four people). Info: facebook.com/taia.flake

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