Lockport teen athlete died weeks after brain cancer diagnosis. Saturday’s fundraiser aims to fight back.

Almost two years ago, a Lockport teen athlete died 18 days after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor.

Now Connor Christian’s family and friends are raising funds for scholarships, brain cancer awareness and research through a foundation in his memory, the CC2 Forever Foundation.

The foundation will be the recipient of funds raised Saturday at the Strike Out Cancer baseball and softball tournament in Lockport.

“The foundation was started right after Connor had passed,” said Katie Moerman of Lockport, who’s a member of the foundation’s advisory board. “It was just a way to raise money and awareness from this horrible disease – but also to do things in Connor’s honor from a legacy standpoint.”

“He was this fantastic kid, like really smart and well thought of, very mature. He was a leader in so many ways since he was a boy.”

—  Ginger Christian, Connor Christian's mother

The 2023 participants for Strike Out Cancer are baseball and softball teams from Lockport Township High School, the baseball teams from Minooka Community High and softball organizations from Naperville Central High School and Antioch High School.

The event will include all 10 games for a $10 donation. A $15 donation will include the games as well as food and drinks. Other features include raffle baskets, 50/50s and CC2 merchandise. An online auction is now live and will close May 13.

Moerman said she’s been involved with the Strike Out Cancer event for the last several years. In the past, proceeds were donated to Shorewood-based Make Your Mark: The Mark Staehely Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Last year, proceeds were split between Make Your Mark and the CC2 Forever Foundation, Moerman said.

Moerman said in an email that the foundation is grateful for the support from Lockport Township High School as well as the “surrounding communities, businesses and families.”

“Their generosity is overwhelming,” Moerman said in an email.

A devastating diagnosis

At the end of June 2021, Connor Christian, a catcher and an outfielder, attended a graduation party. He woke up the next morning and examined his feet. His mother, Ginger Christian, said he asked her if his toes look swollen. Ginger said she saw plenty of mosquito bites but nothing significant beyond that.

“A couple days later he started limping,” Ginger said. “He had what they call ‘drop foot’ on his right side. I took him to the doctor. The doctor said it was a pinched nerve.”

Ginger said she took Connor to an orthopedic specialist who ran imaging tests and then sent Connor to physical therapy.

“The numbness progressed from his foot to his arm,” Ginger said. “All of a sudden, he could not use his hand really well, like for eating and playing video games.”

Ginger said she talked to the physical therapist, who also was concerned. Ginger said Connor was sent to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago that night.

“And the nightmare began,” she said.

Ginger said Connor was told in the middle of the night, while he was lying on a gurney in the emergency department, that he had a large brain tumor. Connor subsequently underwent a biopsy and learned he had a glioblastoma.

Glioblastomas are rapidly growing, aggressive brain cancers. Surgery, followed by radiation and chemotherapy, are the treatment options. Even so, glioblastomas almost are impossible to cure, and glioblastomas frequently recur.

Part of the reason is because the blood-brain barrier, designed to keep harmful substances out, also doesn’t let lifesaving treatments in, according to Penn Medicine.

Glioblastomas also form “microscopic branches that can spread into different parts of the brain,” according to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Average life expectancy is 12 to 15 months for glioblastoma patients who receive treatment and just four months for patients who don’t, according to the Glioblastoma Foundation.

“When someone is diagnosed with this, it’s pretty much a death sentence,” Ginger said. “The prognosis is never good.”

On July 30, 18 days after receiving his diagnosis and about a month from his first symptom, Connor, whose mother called him her “beautiful son who had the world in the palm of his hand” was gone.

Ginger said Connor already had 20 to 30 hours logged with a flight instructor and hoped to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy and become a pilot.

“He was this fantastic kid, like really smart and well thought of, very mature,” Ginger said. “He was a leader in so many ways since he was a boy.”

Preserving Connor Christian’s legacy

According to the CC2 Forever Foundation website, Connor’s older siblings, Ryan and Paige, began the 501(c)(3) organization to raise awareness of glioblastoma and funds for glioblastoma research as well as award academic scholarships to youth that embody kindness, humility, leadership and maturity as Connor did.

In 2022, the CC2 Forever Foundation awarded five scholarships to seniors at Lockport Township High School and Cangelosi Sparks baseball players, Moerman said. The total value of all five scholarships was $8,500, she said.

“The recipients were recognized for having exceptional charter and the attributes to carry on Connor’s legacy,” Moerman said in an email. “The goal is to continue to recognize individuals at LTHS and surrounding communities via these scholarships annually.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Strike Out Cancer Event

WHEN: Games run between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Lockport Township High School varsity baseball and softball fields, 800 Division St., Lockport

COST: $5 donation at gate for all 10 games or $15 donation for games, food and beverages

ETC: Raffle baskets, 50/50s. CC2 Forever Foundation merchandise for sale.

INFO: For information about the CC2 Forever Foundation, visit cc2forever.org. To view online auction items, visit one.bidpal.net/strikeout2023/welcome.