Norma Zimmerman began helping with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life because of her son’s bout with cancer.
By: Mae Rhine
RINGOES Erik Zimmerman Jr. was 17 months old and "almost walking" when he started having dizzy spells and falling down.
His parents, Norma and Erik, took him to the doctor, thinking he had the flu.
Doctors didn’t seem concerned at first. But when Erik continued to fall and started vomiting, the Zimmermans "kept pushing," his mother said, until doctors sent him to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.
That’s when they found, through an MRI, a malignant brain tumor on the brain stem, called a medulloblastoma.
Mrs. Zimmerman was eight months pregnant at the time with Jason, now 10. Erik will be 12 next month.
Her struggle with Erik’s health is why she has been involved with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, a fund-raising event involving cancer survivors. This year, she and her husband are chairpersons of the event to be held at South Hunterdon Regional Sigh School May 31-June 1.
Erik seems like a normal child at first glance. He rushes home from school, eager to shed the backpack and retreat to his other world.
Then one notices the small patch of bare scalp on the back of his head and his glasses.
Not so noticeable, however, are the hearing aids he must wear to school and the growth hormones and thyroid medication he must take every day.
All these things are the result of the years of treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Erik has been cancer free since May 17, almost a year.
The day before last year’s relay, he had a mini stroke. But the courage he has shown had him participating at the relay the following day.
According to Children’s Hospital’s Web site www.chop.edu/consumer/index.jsp tumors of this type can occur anywhere in the nervous system, although they most commonly arise in the cerebellum. When in this location, they are called medulloblastoma.
Symptoms may result from the blockage of the flow of spinal fluid, especially when the tumor is located in the cerebellum. More than 90 percent of the patients are 2 years of age or less.
"They removed most of it (the tumor)," Mrs. Zimmerman said of Erik’s surgery 10 years ago.
The surgery was followed by 14 months of chemotherapy.
"They don’t like to give radiation to kids under 3," his mother explained because of its adverse effects on growth.
Once the chemotherapy was finished, then followed six weeks of radiation and the long-term effects of all his treatment. He must wear his hearing aids to school, "which he hates," Mrs. Zimmerman said.
He had surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. The glasses he wears now are mainly for protection, although there is a "slight adjustment" for his vision.
Her husband gives Erik his shot of growth hormones every day along with his thyroid medication. And there are some learning disabilities, although Erik is "mainstreamed" into regular classes at East Amwell Elementary School.
"He’s behind, but he’s still going forward," his mother said.
But for all his problems, Erik can act like a normal child most times. He has played in Little League and basketball, with his ever-watchful father always there as an assistant coach.
He can exercise, but must stop if he gets overly tired or overheated. That’s mostly because of the danger of a stroke, his mother said.
That problem developed from the radiation, she added. It causes the blood vessels on the right side of his brain to shrink, which could cause a stroke. Doctors don’t want such a young child on blood thinners so he also must take an aspirin every day. If the problem worsens, Erik could face more surgery to repair the blood vessels.
Erik was too young to remember most of what he went through years ago.
"He does whatever he’s told to do" when it comes to his treatment, Mrs. Zimmerman said.
Both Erik and his father are the stable ones, she added with a laugh.
But she has shown her own stability by her devotion to cancer research, prevention and treatment. Mrs. Zimmerman got involved with the Relay for Life through a friend at her church, Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church in Ringoes.
"The first year I was involved, I was hooked," she said.
The American Cancer Society also helped the family with Erik’s staggering medical bills. Mrs. Zimmerman estimated the total cost of treatment thus far is near $400,000, although her medical insurance through her job at Kooltronics in Hopewell Township paid most of it.
Kooltronics is where she met her husband who now is self-employed with a silk-screening business at their farmhouse on Route 179. He also drives a school bus for South Hunterdon.
The cancer society helped the Zimmermans pay the bills for physical therapy for Erik, something insurance companies are reluctant to do. Erik finally learned to walk at age 3.
The society also sent the family to other organizations for other types of help. So Mrs. Zimmerman is happy to help. Her primary motive, however, is helping the organization continue its research.
Because Erik is so young, "a lot of research could help him down the road," she explained.
She also is asking other people to help. The relay consists of teams of 10 people with each person getting 10 sponsors at $10 each. Ideally, that means each team raises $1,000.
It doesn’t always work that way, but last year the relay raised $30,000, Mrs. Zimmerman said.
Right now there are about 20 teams, but more are needed. Few teens are involved, she pointed out, unlike North Hunterdon Regional High School’s relay, held at the campus in Annandale on Route 31. There are 75 to 80 teams at that one in the northern part of Hunterdon County.
The event is emotional. It begins at noon Saturday, May 31, with the first lap around the track for cancer survivors. It continues with a lunch at 1 p.m. for all cancer survivors and a guest.
People spend the afternoon walking for at least an hour around the track. That night, there is a luminary candle service at 9:30, a "very moving" ceremony to survivors as well as those who have lost their battle, Mrs. Zimmerman said.
There also is entertainment with a DJ and the area’s Reel to Real band.
Sunday, June 1, there is an 8 a.m. prayer service with Kirkpatrick youth pastor, the Rev. Dan Evans, who also has a team participating in the relay.
There also are other ways to help sponsoring signs at $100 each along the track, donating food, volunteering to help cook and do other talks all in the effort to continue the fight against cancer.
Mrs. Zimmerman, 50, worries about being an older mother; she was 38 when she had Erik and has two other children, Jennifer, 27, who lives upstairs, and Steven, 32, of Doylestown, Pa.
She frets over who would take care of Erik if anything should happen to her.
That’s why she helps each year for "that chance of better treatment."
She added, "I don’t shortchange how lucky we are."
To find out how to help with this year’s Relay for Life, call Mrs. Zimmerman at 397-8892 or Veronica Dale of the society at (908) 782-7412.

