Manning School in Westmont rallies around family of cancer patient

WESTMONT — A staff member at Manning Elementary School in Westmont is stepping up to help out one of his students recovering from a brain tumor by organizing a fundraiser to help the family offset their medical bills.

Frank Cyrus, a physical education teacher at Manning, and fellow staff members are now registering people for the "T3 Three Mile Fun Run" to benefit the family of Manning student Tommy Niemeyer as he overcomes brain cancer.

The fun run will be held rain or shine at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 6 at the south side picnic shelter at Ty Warner Park in Westmont.

Registration cost for the run is $15 for children in fifth grade and under, $20 for anyone else.

Cyrus, the organizer of the event, said the money raised for the event will go to help Tommy, a second-grader at Manning, and his mother, Manning fourth-grade teacher Karen Niemeyer, cope with some of the medical bills that have accrued since the boy was diagnosed with brain cancer last summer.

"We, as a school, wanted to do something to help out the family," Cyrus said. "Being a physical education teacher, I thought a walk was the best way to go about it."

In June, Tommy started getting headaches. After tests, a brain tumor was discovered. He went through surgery and chemotherapy. He returned to school in December and the cancer has been in remission since.

"While he is doing well, he gets very tired quickly, and he has been only attending half days of school recently due to the fatigue." Karen Niemeyer said. "Other than that, he is doing very well."

Niemeyer said she was in tears when she heard about the fundraising effort for her family.

"Manning really is like a second family to me, as not only am I a teacher there, but I am also a parent," she said. "This event is a wonderful thing they are doing for us."

While Tommy was going through treatment last year, he helped the Manning Student Council collect more than 600 toys to benefit the Ronald McDonald House at Loyola University Medical Center, where he received his treatment.

The school held an assembly last December to recognize him and the work he and the other students did in helping others, even while he was going through cancer treatment.

"I am also the a parent of a small child, and this kind of story makes me hug my child each night to be thankful for what I have," Cyrus said.

Registration is now underway, and donations and registration payments can be made at Manning Elementary School, 200 N. Linden Ave.  For more information, contact Frank Cyrus at fcyrus@cusd201.org.