About a hundred Las Sendas people recently showed color for Trevor Vigiletti at the First Team Trevor Walk.
That color was orange, Trevor’s favorite. Supporters gathered at the Boulder Mountain Park start point on this brisk morning to rally for his recovery.
Trevor, a fifth-grader from Las Sendas, has not been able to attend school much. He was diagnosed with leukemia last July and has since endured many rounds of chemotherapy treatments at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
“This is a critical time of treatment for Trevor,” said Shannon Metera, the benefit’s organizer. Shannon became best friends with Trevor’s mother, Eileen Vigiletti, seven years ago when both families had newly moved to Las Sendas.
Shannon’s son, Ryan, attended Desert Rose Preschool at Las Sendas with Trevor. They turned out to be kindred spirits from the start and became best friends. They used to play soccer, basketball and baseball together.
Ryan still visits Trevor a lot, to keep him company and also to supply him with Mr. Lorenzen’s homework assignments. They had made a pact to stay in the same class for that purpose.
Trevor’s friends will never forget the day when the bad news broke. “We took the boys out on a boat, went tubing together,” Shannon recalled. Later that week, Trevor complained about leg pains.
“It got worse and worse throughout the day,” Shannon continued. “After the doctor had done some blood work, they sent him right off to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.” Eileen informed Shannon on the same day that it might be leukemia.
“We are in this together,” Shannon told Eileen. “Let me know what you need.” Since then, Shannon and others have cooked numerous family dinners for the Vigilettis and supported them in many ways. That helped a lot because Eileen had to take a leave of absence from her job as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines to stay by Trevor, the youngest of four siblings. Her supervisor, Stacey Senger, also came to boost Trevor.
“Trevor calls himself a cancer warrior, and fights the disease head on,” Shannon remarked. Nonetheless, it’s a tough call for a lively boy to lay low, feeling sick and losing his hair when he’d rather be out running with his friends or playing soccer.
“Trevor needed an extra set of arms and TLC,” Shannon said. “So, we decided to do a fun walk, keep it small within the Las Sendas community, with people Trevor knows.”
Friends, neighbors and a delegation from Las Sendas Elementary School joined together for Trevor’s Walk. Wayne McBean loaned his golf cart to Trevor to lead the march. Organizers Shannon and Bill Metera donated the T-shirts and wristbands, and Cindy Alfonso created several dozen artistic cupcakes.
With everybody’s help, Trevor’s Walk was organized at no cost to the cause, and all proceeds went to Trevor’s long road of recovery, a three-year course of treatment. Dad Lou Vigiletti was visibly moved as he thanked participants for their support.
While the walkers, including seven of Trevor’s teachers and school principal Amy Kramb, all from Las Sendas Elementary, lined up behind Trevor’s golf cart to march up Las Sendas, his mother gathered heart.
“Hopefully, in March, we will be back in school and lead a more normal life with only one chemo per month,” she wished. So do we at Up Close.
If you would like to find out more about Trevor’s crusade against leukemia, or would like to donate toward his recovery, contact Team Trevor at teamtrevor@cox.net. A donation account has been set up for his medical needs at Chase Bank (#2963235722).