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Families touched by cancer work together to build Habitat home [Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.]
[November 22, 2009]

Families touched by cancer work together to build Habitat home [Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.]


(Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 22--Even when his fluid-swelled body was covered with hundreds of painful blisters, Zachary Paul May refused to complain.

Though stricken with not one but two kinds of cancer, he amazed nurses, doctors and friends with his positive attitude and sprightly disposition.

"It was insane how charming he was," said his mother, Ann St. John. "The nurses would come into his room and poke him and he would say, 'Thank you.' He embodied gratefulness." St. John said Zachary was the personification of a profound truth -- that between stimulus and response is a thing called choice.



"He showed us that you can choose what kind of person you want to be, even in the worst of circumstances," she said. "You can be a lovely person with a big heart, or a jerk. He chose to be a lovely person." It's in honor of Zachary's legacy that St. John and her husband, Michael May, jumped at the chance to co-sponsor (along with Solution Tree) the building of a Habitat for Humanity House for the Vidaurri family -- whose 15-year-old son, Carlos, is battling bone cancer.

They were moved by the courage of Carlos, who has not allowed cancer to steal his sense of humor or zest for life.


"When this family came to our attention, and we learned of this little boy who had such a grateful heart despite having cancer, we wanted to help," St. John said. "This is a wonderful, wonderful family that embodies gratefulness." Saturday, about 30 volunteers began building a four-bedroom, 1,370-square-foot home for the Vidaurris in the Cedar Chase development on Bloomington's southwest side, one of 34 such homes to be built in the first-ever Habitat neighborhood.

The six members of the Vidaurri family, including Carlos, were among those working on the project -- hammering nails and sawing boards. They were all smiles, saying they could hardly wait to leave their three-bedroom, 800-square-foot apartment on the west side of town and move into their new digs.

"We are so excited," said Carlos' mother, Perla Claudia Rodriguez de Vidaurri. "Our entire family is so grateful to all the people who have done so much for us, including building this house." The Vidaurris came to Bloomington from Queretaro, Mexico, in the fall of 2004 to provide a better life for their children. Since Carlos became ill, the community has supported the family with several fundraisers to help pay their medical bills.

'My leg is doing good' Since being diagnosed with bone cancer in his right leg last January, Carlos has been undergoing regular chemotherapy. He has just two more treatments to go.

"My leg is doing good," he said, moving around nimbly on two crutches. "I hope to get rid of these crutches pretty soon." Carlos can never again play competitive soccer, his favorite sport, but he's helping coach a youth soccer team. He also will start physical therapy this week and hopes to channel his passion for athletics into biking, swimming and lifting weights.

Perla smiled as only a mother can as she watched Carlos scarf down a barbecue sandwich, chips and pasta salad during a brief lunch break.

"His appetite is fine," she said. "He eats all day long." Team Zachary Technically, the co-sponsor of the Habitat build for the Vidaurris is Team Zachary -- a group of people initially organized by St. John and May to keep people informed about their son's health. Today, Team Zachary's aim is to help people in tangible ways and spread Zachary's legacy of embracing life, warts and all.

The team has raised $500,000 for cancer trials, participates each year in Hoosiers Outrun Cancer, and organizes an annual blood drive.

Just months before Zachary died, he was lying in a hospital bed with oozing blisters on every inch of his body -- including his face, chest, arms, legs and inside of his throat. He looked at his mother and said, "Do you know what I want out of this, Mom? I want to stay grateful. I don't want to let life's miracles pass by unacknowledged." St. John said Team Zachary's mission is to carry that message to as many ears as will hear it.

"He's no longer here to do that, but we can do it on his behalf," she said.

"Especially at Thanksgiving, when so many things are bad and yucky in the world, we need to remember we have a choice to seek out and celebrate life's miracles, and in so doing make the world a better place." St. John said helping the Vidaurris is something Zachary would want her to do.

"The best tribute I can pay to Zachary is to let my heart expand and to look for ways to do good," she said.

"Team Zachary is not about cancer. It's about embracing goodness." 'He taught me to be grateful' After graduating from Bloomington High School North, Zachary spent two years at Vincennes University, and later volunteered with Habitat for Humanity through the AmeriCorps Program.

Then he joined the U.S. armed services and served a year in Iraq. Shortly after returning to Bloomington in August 2006, he began complaining of back and neck pain. After a series of tests, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He was treated for that illness, but when his condition continued to deteriorate, he was airlifted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where doctors determined that in addition to Hodgkin's lymphoma, he had stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer that claims the lives of 19,500 Americans a year.

For the next two years, his health continued to decline, but chemotherapy treatments provided him with sporadic slivers of health.

"He had many wonderful months, off and on, when he went hunting in the woods, rode his jeep and took long walks with his wife," St. John said.

St. John said watching her strapping son waste away was the hardest thing she's ever endured.

"The treatments were horrible," she said. "He was so filled with fluid, he looked like the Michelin Man." On May 4, 2008, at the age of 26, Zachary died. But his example lives on.

St. John said whenever she's tempted to feel discouraged, she remembers her son.

"He was the same person no matter what happened to him," she said. "He taught me to be grateful for all of life, not just the good parts." To see more of the Herald-Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/.

Copyright (c) 2009, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.

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