'Team Owen' Racing For Oak Park Boy Battling Rare Cancer

OAK PARK, IL — Over 500 family and friends across the U.S. are teaming up to support an Oak Park child battling a rare pediatric brain cancer diagnosis called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare and aggressive pediatric brain tumor with no cure and few treatment options. According to a news release sent to Patch, 6-year-old Owen Shaker Petrzelka, a first grader at Oak Park's Horace Mann Elementary School, was diagnosed with DIPG during April 2020. On Sept. 26, "Team Owen" will race in a virtual 5k run called the RunTough for ChadTough, hosted by The ChadTough Foundation.

The ChadTough Foundation was founded by Tammi and Jason Carr who tragically lost their 5-year-old son Chad to DIPG in 2015, according to the news release. Since RunTough for ChadTough began, Carr and her Foundation have raised millions of dollars dedicated solely to fund pediatric brain cancer research, the news release added.

“We created The ChadTough Foundation to honor my son’s memory and work to fund game-changing research for other children with DIPG and pediatric brain cancer,” Tammi Carr said, in the news release. “With more awareness, we can give other children and their loved ones a fighting chance.”

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DIPG affects an estimated 200 to 400 children each year in the U.S. and Europe and accounts for roughly 10 to 15 percent of brain tumors in children, according to the news release.

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“DIPG patients and their families need and deserve more -- stronger research, greater understanding, and more hope,” Owen’s dad, Adam Petrzelka said. “Together as a community, we are proudly fighting for Owen and all of the families facing this unthinkable ordeal.”

Team Owen is being sponsored by 40 area businesses and has raised over $150,000 so far to fund research and raise awareness to the "devastating diagnosis DIPG brings," according to the news release.

For more information, visit teamowen.org.