Liam Marino didn’t think he was going to have a very good summer. “Because of all this brain cancer stuff at the hospital,” he explains. “But it’s been awesome.”
Liam, 9, loves to hang out with his friends and ride his bike and his skateboard. Brain cancer has prevented him from doing tricks on his three bikes for the last year and a half.
It all started when he fell off a trampoline at a friend’s birthday party. Concerns about a possible concussion soon gave way to more shocking news: Liam had a brain tumor. Surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia removed much of it, but then he endured 36 cycles of radiation as well as chemotherapy.
“I couldn’t do anything anymore,” says Liam. I couldn’t do soccer. I couldn’t ride a bike. I didn’t even have my balance. It was really scary.”
Liam now has much of his energy back, and he is looking forward to being an ambassador for the 2015 Four Seasons Parkway Run & Walk on Saturday, Sept. 19 at Lincoln Financial Field. The event raises money for pediatric cancer research and survivorship programs.
In October, Liam will finish with eight rounds of chemotherapy. “I’m doing great,” he says. “Without this in my life, that will be even better.”
