Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Special to the Star-Bulletin
Michele and Scott McCoy with their sons, Iain and
Liam McCoy. Iain has a brain tumor; his brother
has a brain malformation.

Fund-raiser
for ill twins
scheduled Sunday

By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

Scott and Michele McCoy have been on a leave of absence from their jobs since September. That's when one of their then 6-month-old twins, Iain, was diagnosed with a rare, malignant brain tumor.

He underwent surgery to remove the tumor and chemotherapy. The family traveled to San Francisco, where Iain spent four months undergoing transplants in which his own bone marrow taken from his hips was reintroduced.

In February, the other twin, Liam, was diagnosed with a brain malformation.

When the Maunawili Elementary School community learned of the McCoys' situation, they rallied to support Scott, a well-liked fifth-grade teacher at the school, and his family.

They will hold a fund-raiser for the twins with lots of local entertainment, a food booth and an auction for a 1987 Thunderbird this Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the school. For information, call Mark Rieben at 266-7822.

But their generosity had been demonstrated months ago when Scott ran out of leave at the beginning of the school year.

School employees donated their sick leave to Scott. "We would have shared our vacation, but we don't have that," Principal Arlyne Yonemoto said.

She described the fifth-grade teacher as "a very giving individual," which is why people in turn have given to him, she said.

Michele McCoy, who attended Maunawili Elementary, said the school has been wonderful.

Iain's atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor could recur. He spent last night in the intensive care unit at Kapiolani Hospital, suffering from a high fever due to bacteria in a catheter running from his chest into his neck.

Liam, however, shows no symptoms of the Arnold Chiari brain malformation, but it could pose a problem as he gets older.