Running for a Blue Faery
Molly Shore
Andrea Wilson believes in fairies, especially blue ones. When the
Burbank resident participates in the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday,
she will be running for a special blue fairy -- her younger sister,
Adrienne Wilson, who died Oct. 9, 2001, of a rare liver cancer.
Wilson created Blue Faery, the Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Assn.,
to raise money to find a cure for the disease -- hepatocellular
carcinoma -- that claimed Adrienne’s life. It is the nation’s first
nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for liver cancer.
Adrienne’s form of cancer generally begins as Hepatitis B and C,
which usually create tumors in the liver and lungs. Wilson said that
Adrienne’s doctors believed she contracted Hepatitis B as a fetus in
her mother’s womb, because their mother had a chronic form of the
disease.
Wilson, 30, president of Blue Faery, hopes her marathon run will
help raise $10,000 by April 8, which would have been Adrienne’s 17th
birthday. “If she were alive, she would be out there cheering me on,
but saying that it was crazy,” Wilson said. “She hated to run,
absolutely hated it, but she loved to dance.”
During the marathon, Wilson will be supported by her fiance, John
Ceravolo, who is the association’s vice president, as well as Blue
Faery’s board members and volunteers.
All of the money the association raises will be used for the
prevention, treatment and cure of liver cancer through research,
education and advocacy, Ceravolo said.
When she formed the association, Wilson asked friends for name
suggestions and said most people came up with some version of “Blue
Faery.”
“Adrienne always loved fairies and she dyed her hair bright blue
just weeks before starting high school,” Wilson said. “Later, she
purchased some blue butterfly wings that she wore on her back on
special occasions.”
When Adrienne started chemotherapy and lost her hair, Wilson said
her sister asked for a bright blue wig so she could maintain her
look.
“She became our blue fairy,” Wilson said.