SOUTHINGTON, Conn. — The mother of a 10-year-old Southington boy, battling a brain tumor for nearly two months, says the best way the public can support her son in his fight is through kindness to one another because he is as kind as you will find.
The outpouring of love and support showed to 5th grader, Ben Marek, who was diagnosed in February with a brain tumor, is best illustrated in a GoFundMe page, which raised over $30,000 in three days.
"The support has been breathtaking and has touched our hearts in ways that I hope most people will never have to imagine," said Stacy Marek, Ben's mother, who describes her youngest son as an old soul.
"When you talk to him, you don’t feel like you’re talking to a kid at all," she added.
"He sharp," said Brian Marek, the boy's father. "You show him something once and he gets it. Like when we do construction. I take him, he runs the machines. He likes to run the machines."
His principal at the Hatton Elementary School calls him the Mayor of Hatton. And Ben's classmates have been there every step of the way.
"The kids have been drawing pictures and sending murals and posting things on Prayers for Ben," Stacy Marek said while tearing up.
Prayers for Ben is a public Facebook page.
Complications resulted in him being back in intensive care at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center
"He’s not conscious, but we have been able to communicate with him at times when his sedation levels dropped down," his mother said with a smile.
As for his prognosis, all they can say is it's day-to-day.
"We know neurologically that he is in there," Stacy Marek says. "He’s been able to respond to us and answer to us."
And Ben's doctors report that his heart is in good shape, too. But, of course, his parents already knew that.
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