Local Teen Battling Cancer to Benefit from Poker Run

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – The Friends of Christian’s Poker Run and Pig Roast will benefit a Jefferson County teen who is battling cancer.

The organization’s seventh annual benefit will be held on Sunday, July 28, to help out the family of Bryce Dinger (pictured above). Bryce, a 16-year-old boy from the Knoxdale area, is battling Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is part of the human immune system. It causes cells in the lymphatic system to grow abnormally and may spread beyond it.

Formerly known as Hodgkin’s disease, due to advances in diagnosis and treatment, the prognosis for people with this form of cancer has continued to improve in recent years, with many having a chance of full recovery.

In Bryce’s case, however, the cancer was discovered to already be in Stage 4, which is the most advanced stage of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, where the cancer cells have already spread to one or more organs and tissues. It required aggressive treatment.

Bryce underwent a stem cell transplant in June, requiring several weeks of hospitalization. He is also continuing to undergo chemotherapy with no end currently in sight.

According to Friends of Christian President Michelle Wright, Bryce’s family was told that the chemotherapy treatments will continue until he can be considered to be in remission.

Bryce himself seems to be taking his condition in stride.

“He’s a typical teen boy. He likes camping, fishing, and dirt bikes,” Wright said.

“But also, he’s a really inspirational kid because he has this really positive, very cool laid-back attitude about him. He doesn’t really fuss about himself, and to see him, you probably wouldn’t even guess he’s sick at all.”

Wright noted that both of Bryce’s parents work full-time, and though the company they work for has been very cooperative about necessary time off from work, the constant travel between their home and Pittsburgh is putting a strain on their resources.

“What we want to do is raise a bunch of money to help them offset the cost of travel and time off work they have to take. We want them to be able to focus on Bryce and the treatment he needs.”

“They’re really like any other parents. They’re just going to do whatever needs to be done for him.”

The Friends of Christian Poker Run & Pig Roast to benefit Bryce’s family is scheduled for Sunday, July 28. Registration for the ride begins at 9:00 a.m. at Infusion Night Club & Grille on Main Street in Clarion.

The cost is $25.00 per bike and includes one hand of poker and meals for both the driver and passenger. Additional poker hands can be purchased for $5.00. Prizes are awarded for the best and worst hand.

The ride kicks off at 11:00 a.m. from Infusion Night Club & Grille, then heads to Lucky’s Pub in Marienville, TrAils to Ales in Franklin, and Otto’s Tavern in Emlenton, then finishes up at the Limestone Fire Hall.

The Pig Roast opens its doors to the public at 4:00 p.m. at the Limestone Fire Hall. The cost is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children ages six to 12. Children ages six and under are free.

The dinner includes the main dish, two sides, a roll, and a drink.

There will be a basket raffle, a 50/50 raffle, and a special item raffled off separately.

For more information on the event, go to https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfChristian.

About Friends of Christian

The “Friends of Christian” organization first formed in 2013 to organize a fundraiser for a Knox area youth, Christian Burgdofer (pictured below), who was battling Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). POTS is a condition where a person’s blood stays in the lower part of the body when the person stands up, causing the heart to beat faster to try to get blood to the brain, making the person’s blood pressure drop significantly.

That first year, they began planning in August to hold the event in October. They created not only the poker run but also a pig roast and a Chinese auction, which all came together to raise over $2,500.00 for the Burgdofer family.

While they originally planned for a one-time event, once it was over, they realized it wasn’t really over, as people began to ask if they would consider making it an annual event.

They then formed a board of directors and named trustees, and a few years later they became an official LLC designated nonprofit recognized in the state of Pennsylvania. Since then, they have gone a step further, and in 2017 they officially became a recognized 501c3 nonprofit organization.

Over the years, they’ve continued to grow and also refine their process for choosing a family to benefit from their big annual event. They require nominees to be a family with a child or children, from birth to 18 years of age as of the nomination deadline, who has a chronic or terminal illness and currently resides in Clarion, Venango, or Jefferson County.

Once they receive all of the nominations, they have a committee that begins to narrow them down, and then they interview several families, in person, to make a final decision.

The event has been steadily growing over the years, having raised just over $2,500.00 the first year, then over $3,000.00 each year from 2014 to 2017, and over $4,000.00 last year, when the recipient was 16-year-old Nattie Booth, of Marble, who is living with mitochondrial disease, (Nattie is pictured below, in white, with her sister Noelle).