An 8-year-old boy from east Orange County lost his fight with a rare form of brain cancer on Friday.
Now, the community that first came together to support the family with medical costs is raising money to help cover funeral expenses.
Keresse Thompson has known Alan Vasquez’s family for years.
He was one of her 9-year-old daughter Aminah’s closest school friends. In pictures, Alan, his brother, Alex, and Aminah looked like siblings.
“I called them triplets,” said Thompson, 32.
Alan was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) earlier this year after doctors identified a tumor in his spinal cord. The rare disease has no known cure.
Only 10 percent of children with DIPG survive for two years once they’ve been diagnosed, and less than one percent survive for five years, according to the Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation.
As soon as she heard the news, Thompson started a GoFund Me campaign to help pay for Alan’s funeral.
“They have literally exhausted so much money to try anything,” Thompson said.
Alan is survived by his mother Midy, his father Ricardo, and two brothers. His mother could not be reached late Saturday.
The family found an alternative treatment for Alan’s rare condition in Monterrey, Mexico. Over the past months, they had traveled there so Alan could receive chemotherapy every three weeks. They spent about $13,000 per treatment, trying to cure him.
When he was diagnosed, Alan’s family received an outpouring of support from residents of Avalon Park and Stoneybrook. But even then, the family had to sell their home to help cover travel and medical expenses.
In the first 24 hours of the online fundraiser for Alan, Thompson said, nearly $6,000 was raised. She said most of the donations have come from neighbors.
“You never think it’s going to happen to someone you know,” said Thompson, who is friends with Midy Vasquez. “I told [Midy], there’s not right or wrong thing that you could’ve done.”
To donate money to Thompson’s GoFund Me campaign, go to www.gofundme.com/alans-funeral-costs.
bpadro@orlandosentinel.com or 407-232-0202. Follow me on Twitter @BiancaJoanie
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of money the Vasquez family spent on Alan’s treatment.