Helping Hands of Friends : School Walk-a-Thon to Benefit Ill Student

Last September, Eric Caughern was looking forward to his senior year at Rancho Santa Margarita Catholic High School where he would be taking college prep courses and beginning his second season as a defensive end on the school’s varsity football team.

But instead of spending his days in the classroom and out on the football field, Eric spent the first part of his senior year in the intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange, battling for his life.

After feeling strangely listless all summer, the normally energetic 17-year-old grew steadily weaker and in October was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a type of cancer that attacks the lymphatic system.

“At first, they said they couldn’t tell me for sure whether I was going to live or not,” said Eric, who is responding well to chemotherapy treatments and has returned to school on a part-time basis. “I was stunned and I was crying because I was so scared. I don’t even remember the first week of treatments because I was so out of it.”

Although Hodgkin’s disease is potentially fatal, it can be arrested through extensive treatments, and doctors say Eric’s chances for a full recovery are excellent.

But Eric’s family, which includes his mother, Diane, a widow, and two younger children, will be faced with astronomical medical bills for some time to come, not all of which are covered by insurance.

To help pay for some of these expenses, students and staff members at the close-knit school have organized a three-mile walk-a-thon beginning at 9 a.m. today that they hope will generate enough donations to help ease the family’s plight.

“This school has such a closeness that we don’t feel alone,” said Diane Caughern, who works as a secretary in the school’s counseling office. “The amount of support is incredible. I can’t imagine what our lives would be like if we did not have this whole community who has really been there for us.”

Eric’s illness is not the first tragedy to strike the Orange teen-ager. Five years ago, he watched his 37-year-old father, Jerry, die suddenly of a heart attack while the two were out jogging.

Jerry Caughern was a detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who, Diane Caughern said, doted on his eldest son, sharing with him a variety of athletic interests.

“Losing my dad and being sick has really made me tougher and made me try to live for the present and the future,” said Eric, who now wears a baseball cap after losing some of his hair because of chemotherapy.

After missing nearly three months of school, Eric was warmly received by the school’s 1,400 students when he returned to classes in January.

He attends religion, ceramics and mathematics classes in the morning, then receives tutoring at home for the remainder of his classes.

“These kids are unbelievable because there is so much love that flows through them,” his mother said. “They treat Eric like there’s nothing wrong and continue with all of their nonsense and teasing.”

“We still give Eric a hard time,” admits student Dan Donovan, a close friend of Eric’s. “He’s a good guy basically and that’s how everyone felt even before he got sick. Nothing has changed since he got back. He’s still a part of our senior class.”

Although Eric was unable to participate in his final football season, those in the team--which reached the quarterfinals of the CIF playoffs--kept their teammate in mind the entire season and presented him with the game ball after they won their opening round playoff game.

“He really was an inspiration for us,” said Coach Jim Hartigan. “It hit everyone hard when we found out how sick he was and it actually turned our season around. He’s a good kid who has had some tough breaks in his life.”

His condition has temporarily derailed plans to attend the University of San Diego or Loyola Marymount University. Instead, Eric plans to attend Chapman University in Orange, where he has been accepted. The campus is close to his home and also near the hospital where he will require treatment for at least another year.

Depending on how he feels, Eric said he will either walk or ride around the three-mile course for today’s event, which will begin at the school and wind around Lake Rancho Santa Margarita.

Eric said all the attention the community has lavished upon him and his family is “kind of cool and kind of embarrassing,” but he is clearly touched. He said he now wants to concentrate on recovering his health so he can get on with his life.

“I don’t want to be a hero,” he said. “I just want everything to be normal again.”