New York Students Shave Heads To Support Their Friend Dealing With Rare Form Of Cancer
SCARSDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – A Westchester community comes together to help a teen with cancer.
On Friday, kids shaved their heads to show they stand with a beloved friend and talented athlete who is losing his hair because of chemotherapy.
When it comes to the most supportive friends in the world these middle school kids in Scarsdale have all made the "cut."
Jake Warnock had his best friend's initials along with the number one shaved into his buzzed brown hair.
"I'm getting number one in my head because he's number one in my heart," Warnock said.
A special tribute to 13-year-old Nick DiMarzo who found out in July he has cancer.
"When I have my friends going through this stuff it's a hard feeling."
A lot of those feelings came out in tears and hugs at a fundraiser for the DiMarzo family; an event where boys got their heads shaved as a show of solidarity for the Eastchester Middle School student.
"Nick is someone to look up to," Salvatore Petrone said.
The stand out athlete is undergoing aggressive chemo treatment right now for a rare type of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.
"It's so tragic to see something like this happen to someone so kind," Joseph Deljevic said.
It's tough to explain to these kids because adults can't even comprehend it.
"It happened so quickly, we haven't even had a chance to process this," the boy's aunt Amy Marino said.
Marino says had it not been for a baseball injury that forced her nephew to the doctor they may not have even discovered the tumor in his hand until much later.
These days he doesn't get out a lot, but he made hundreds of people happy when he showed up to the event in his honor.
Once Nick arrived his friends didn't want to leave his side. He's out of school right now, while he gets treatment.
"He has ten months of chemo, within five months radiation as well, then we're going for the cure," Marino said.
"He's gonna knock cancer right out of the park!"
The family says with the aggressive treatment, they are optimistic about Nick's prognosis.
