4-year-old named Honored Hero for Light The Night Walk

Aug. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- North County kindergartener, Makai Orje, was named an Honored Hero for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s annual Light The Night® Walk on Friday, November 2 at Petco Park.
Makai, a 4-year-old diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2009, will be honored at the 14th annual two-mile walk that brings together thousands of individuals to raise funds for blood cancer research and patient services.
“As a parent, it’s very scary when your child is diagnosed with cancer. When they initially performed the tests, Makai was 2-years-old and found the cancer had progressed so much that his immune system couldn’t fight off multiple skin infections,” said Makai’s mother, Jennifer Orje. “We’re fortunate that he was a rapid responder to the first phase of treatment and now he’s in the maintenance phase of therapy. This will be our third year walking and we’re so grateful to our friends, family and the LLS organization for their help raising funds.”

Walkers will join together in twilight holding illuminated balloons – white for survivors, red for supporters and gold to remember those lost to cancer. In addition to the Walk, the evening’s festivities will include music, food and family activities.

“Makai is most deserving of being one of our 2012 Light The Night Honored Heroes because he’s been through a great deal at such a young age and we’re all inspired by his positive spirit,” said Jeff Wheeler, Senior Campaign Manager for the Light The Night Walk in San Diego. “The first year, Makai’s team brought in $8,000 and in 2011, they raised $12,000. With everyone’s help, they should be able to reach their goal of $15,000 for this year’s event!”  

Individuals can donate or join Makai’s team at http://pages.lightthenight.org/sd/SanDiego12/JOrje.  Registration is at 6:00 p.m. with the opening ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the Walk starting at 7:00 p.m. For more information on this year’s event, visit http://www.lightthenight.org/sd/.