Published: October 05, 2008 11:29 pm            

Metz fights winning battle

His endowment for Riley nears $200,000

A little more than one year ago, Eric Metz, then a senior at Northwestern High School, was diagnosed with cancer. Saturday, friends and family gathered to celebrate the remission of the disease.

Several hundred people gathered at the Kokomo Event Center to celebrate the fact that Metz’s cancer is in remission and to help raise additional funds for the Eric Metz “Win This Battle” endowment of the Riley Children’s Foundation.

The endowment has raised almost $190,000 in the past six months and a yearly gift will be made for use by the pediatric cancer unit at Riley Hospital for Children.

Greg Bell, serving as master of ceremonies, said Metz played a football game on Sept. 29, 2007, and was told on Oct. 1 that he had cancer. Treatment started at Riley Children’s Hospital three days after the disease was diagnosed.

Bell said Metz set three goals for himself to pitch again for the Northwestern baseball team, graduate with his class and start an endowment fund. He said all of the goals have been met.

Superior Court 4 Judge George Hopkins said doctors decided on an aggressive chemotherapy treatment for Metz and the unknown was how he would respond. Hopkins said Metz responded with courage, discipline and a will to win.

“He has become a spokesman on how to defeat pediatric cancer,” Hopkins said of Metz. “He is a true warrior.”

Metz said the Saturday gathering was not to celebrate his battle with the disease but to raise the awareness of pediatric cancer in the community.

“No one should have to go through it,” he said. “One year ago I didn’t have a care in the world, just worrying about what party to go to after a football game.”

Metz said cancer patients need a lot of hope, hope provided by family, friends and the prayer of strangers.

“Being there for someone means everything in the world,” he said. “You need to have faith in the doctors and nurses and faith in God.”

Metz said he knows a lot of kids who are battling every day and refuse to quit.

“Not all are successful, but they continue to fight everyday,” he continued in talking about the endowment fund. “There is a one new pediatric cancer patient at Riley every other day. If we can make a kid’s journey more comfortable than the endowment has been a success.”

Metz then urged the people in attendance to obtain a bone-marrow screen and brought John, a fellow patient at Riley, to the podium who is awaiting a bone marrow transfer in his fight to beat cancer.

“John needs a bone-marrow transfer,” an emotional Metz said. “Please be tested.

“The treatment for cancer is tough but effective,” he said. “The kids fighting cancer are brave and enthusiastic.”

        

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