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Fundraiser Thursday for Kremmling boys

Lu Snyder

KREMMLING – Ron McElroy and his wife, Christine, weren’t too concerned when their 13-year-old son, Colt, complained of headaches. After Colt began acting abnormally and violently, however, they took him to the emergency room.”He lost his senses – he was in some kind of another world,” said Ron McElroy, who is a body shop technician at Jim Hudson Cheverolet in Silverthorne. “They took him to Children’s Hospital (in Denver), and they did a CAT scan, and that’s when they found the tumor.”Colt was scared when he heard his diagnosis, his father said. “He’s extremely scared.”The tumor was attached to Colt’s brain stem, McElroy said. Though surgeons were able to remove most of the tumor, they were unable to remove portions on the brain stem. Now Colt must undergo chemotherapy to loosen up the remaining tumor from the brain stem. He is scheduled for another round of surgery and radiation, in hopes of removing the tumor in its entirety.”If they can get the whole tumor out, down to the last cell, it won’t come back,” McElroy said. “But if there’s even one cell left, it’s going to keep coming back, and it’s going to get him.”One of Colt’s schoolmates, Jeremy Gudenkauf, 12, also has been a patient at Children’s Hospital recently.Jeremy, whose father is a driver for the Summit Stage, suffered a stroke from complications from pneumonia and is now paralyzed on the left side, said Tina Bowlan, a sales associate at Jim Hudson who is helping organize Thursday’s event”In the beginning, (doctors) said he wouldn’t talk or anything, but he’s talking now, so hopefully things will start getting better,” she said, adding that Jeremy is in good spirits but a little anxious about returning to school. “He’s a great kid. He’s always happy, fun-loving.”Bowlan said she’s hoping to raise at least $5,000 for each family.”It may take more than one dinner, but that’s what I’m hoping for,” she said.Spaghetti dinner & fundraiser:Why: To help the Gudenkauf and McElroy families with their medical bills at Children’s HospitalWhen: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., ThursdayWhere: Rocky Mountain Bar and Grill, KremmlingCost: $6 per plate, $1 for dessertAll proceeds will be donated evenly between the two familiesFor more information, contact Tina Bowlan at (970) 486-0164 or Liz Moats at (970) 724-1177.Lu Snyder can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 203, or lsnyder@summitdaily.com.


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