Devin Dixit of Wilmette is, in the words of Harper School principal Sue Kick, “very lively, very energetic, enthusiastic, creative, kind and funny.”
Devin is also in a health fight that no 7-year-old should have to wage; he has a brainstem glioma tumor that endangers his life and health.
Those who know and care for the young Harper School student have banded together through a GoFundMe account started by Harper teacher Anne Clark, raising money to help Devin’s mother Rosa Sanchez pay for his mounting medical bills.
To date, the campaign has raised just over $41,000. Now a Kenilworth fitness studio, The Dailey Method North Shore, at 410 Green Bay Road, is joining the campaign by adding to the total, and giving donors a fun and healthy way to do so.
The studio will hold a special set of exercise classes at 2 p.m. April 18, donating nearly all of its participants’ entrance fees to Devin’s GoFundMe account.
Studio representative Chris Beer said April 9 that $40 of the $45 entrance ticket will go toward Devin’s GoFundMe account. In return, participants can take part not only in the April 18 event, but in three more classes for free.
It was Beer, a Wilmette resident, who first alerted Dailey Method studio owner Tami Conway about Devin, and suggested that the studio help him financially. Beer lives near Harper School, and found out about Clark’s GoFundMe efforts through the school’s Facebook page.
“I marveled at the swiftness of the community response. I don’t know the family, but I thought, ‘This is great, but let’s keep the momentum going!’ So I approached [studio owner Tami Conway] with this idea,” she said.
“When Chris came to us with Devin’s story, how could we not want to help?” Conway said, April 10.
The Dailey Method studio has been open in Kenilowrth almost four years. Conway said that one of the policies she and studio co-owner Leanne Kurtzweil operate their studios by is community involvement, so helping Devin was a natural fit.
When Devin was born in 2008, he was diagnosed with Neurofibromitosis 1, which causes nerve tissue tumors to form on the spinal cord, brain, and skin. He has received treatment for the disorder since his birth, but the ante was upped when doctors diagnosed with the brainstem tumor.
National Institutes of Health figures show that roughly 300-400 pediatric brain stem tumors are diagnosed each year in the United States. The side effects are serious; Devin suffers from massive headaches, dizziness and loss of balance to the point where he can’t stand up, and partial face paralysis.
He has undergone several medical procedures, and now must undergo a year of chemotherapy. His mother has changed careers and become a part time hospice nurse in order to better care for Devin and his 6-year-old sister Ella.
“We knew from talking to his mom that insurance wasn’t going to cover everything,” Clark said April 10. “When we started the GoFundMe, the response was just over the top, which gives his mom one less thing to worry about.”
While Sanchez has shied away from publicity about her son’s fight, Clark said, “Rosa is really grateful. She wants to express her thanks and gratitude.”
To register for “Burn Bright for Devin,” visit the Dailey Method page at http://www.thedaileymethod.com/studios/northshore.
To learn more about Devin’s medical fight, or to donate to his campaign directly, visit his fundraising page at http://www.gofundme.com/dollarsfordevin
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Burning Bright
What: Burn Bright for Devin
For: Harper School student Devin Dixit
Where: The Dailey Method North Shore, 410 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth
When: Saturday April 18
Info: http://www.thedaileymethod.come/studios/northshore http://www.gofundme.com/dollars/fordevin.