Boy With Cancer Gets Surprise Party Fundraiser In Berkeley

BERKELEY, NJ — Nothing stops Miguel from having fun, not even a brain tumor. The community joined in on the fun with Miguel, surprising him at Sunday's "Strike Out Cancer" fundraiser at Veteran's Park.

Though the second-grader from South Toms River continues to lose vision and hearing while enduring chemotherapy, Miguel keeps his spirits high.

According to Courtney Eisenman, one of the event organizers, Miguel had no idea the event was being organized for him until he arrived at Veteran's Park. He saw a photo of himself on a poster and immediately realized he was famous.

Miguel is a big fan of wrestling. According to Erin Gunteski Ritchie, a member of the Miracles for Miguel Committee, SWF Wrestling is donating a portion of their proceeds from an upcoming event to Miguel, as well as honoring him in the ring.

Miguel also drew the 50/50 raffle ticket, and his grandfather held the winning number.

Miguel's mother, Rocio Alarcon, gets a lot of support from family, friends and the community. Alarcon quit her job to care for Miguel as well raising four other children and attributes her strong faith in God as a pillar of strength.

"I'm really thankful for the people and their help," Alarcon said. "We have a lot of faith and a lot of hope."

The food was provided by local vendors and businesses. Ryan's Deli and Catering donated cooking equipment and propane free of charge, according to Kevin Gibbons, the South Toms River Youth baseball operations manager.

"This event came through because of the community," Gibbons said. "We're a little town with a big heart."

There was live music, a dunk tank, bounce house, face painting, live music, Touch-a-Truck, a classic car display and vendors. There were softball games held during the event. The event was sponsored by South Toms River Youth Baseball and South Toms River PTO.

This isn't the first time the community rallied for Miguel. For his last day of school, he rode in a fire truck around South Toms River in a special event organized by South Toms River police and EMS. Miguel got to explore every response vehicle during the two-hour event, according to Eisenman.

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. According to acco.org, an estimated 15,780 children aged 0-19 are diagnosed with cancer.

Approximately 1 in 285 children in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday and globally, there are 300,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year.

Click here to donate to a GoFundMe supporting Miguel and his family.

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