visit the event page on the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s website<\/a><\/p>\nOn Saturday, runners and families will gather for a 5K and stadium stair climb to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The event highlights an urgent issue: Childhood cancer receives only about 4% of government-allocated cancer research funding, according to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.<\/p>\n
For one Tampa Bay family, that statistic isn\u2019t just concerning \u2014 it\u2019s deeply personal.<\/p>\n
At first glance, 9-year-old Vincent DiTinno looks like any other energetic child. He runs and plays alongside his brother Corey, enjoying the simple moments of childhood.<\/p>\n
But that normalcy came after a long and difficult journey.<\/p>\n
When Vincent was just 4 years old, he was diagnosed with stage 2 rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer that affects only about 350 children each year.<\/p>\n
What followed was an 18-month battle that tested the entire family.<\/p>\n
Vincent endured surgery and intense chemotherapy treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daily life became a cycle of constant monitoring \u2014 checking for fevers morning, noon and night \u2014 often ending in emergency room visits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a hard time. It was very, very hard,\u201d his mother, Melanie DiTinno, said.<\/p>\n
For Vincent\u2019s parents, the diagnosis could have pulled their family apart. Instead, they made a conscious decision to face it together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could have done one of two things for us,\u201d his father, Anthony DiTinno, said. \u201cIt could have torn us apart, or we come together and share a focus.\u201d<\/p>\n
That focus took shape in an unexpected way: running.<\/p>\n
Each parent would go on separate runs through their neighborhood, using the time to process, cope and stay strong. When they returned home, they wrote messages of encouragement to each other on a piece of drywall \u2014 a simple but powerful act that kept them moving forward.<\/p>\n
Those words became their foundation.<\/p>\n
They decided that after getting through Vincent\u2019s treatment they wanted to do something to help others, because they said they knew there were a lot of other people experiencing the same struggle.<\/p>\n
Today, Vincent is in remission, and the DiTinno family is turning their experience into action.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve partnered with the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation to help organize this weekend\u2019s 5K and stair climb event at Raymond James Stadium. What once served as their personal therapy has now become a way to inspire and support others facing similar battles.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we\u2019ve got the ability to give that support to other families,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s hard to talk about what we went through, but knowing it helps someone else means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the event is more than just a race \u2014 it\u2019s a symbol of resilience, community and hope.<\/p>\n
Participants will take part in a stadium stair climb beginning at 8 a.m., followed by the 5K at 9 a.m. A family fun zone will remain open through noon, offering activities for all ages.<\/p>\n
At the heart of it all is Vincent, a young boy who has faced more than most and who now looks ahead with optimism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 A major weekend is ahead at Raymond James Stadium, but before the big games begin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[767,3948,274,28,571,276,2635,115,135,137,136,278,835],"class_list":["post-208522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-community","tag-app-health","tag-app-top-stories","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-jason-lanning","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}