Banding together for him

Lucas Campanaro has had plenty of help since he was diagnosed with cancer, but these days, his family needs more help than ever.

The 17-year-old Costa Mesa-born surfer and former Newport Harbor High School student was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of connective tissues, and he has been going through frequent chemotherapy mostly ever since.

In 2006, his classmates in the school’s Make-a-Wish club raised more than $4,000 to send Campanaro to Hawaii with his family, where he was able to surf those legendary waves during a time the disease seemed at bay.

But now a different kind of fundraiser is going on as the illness has come back with a grim prognosis. Friends of the family say the financially strapped Campanaros need all the help they can get at a time they just want to spend every moment with Lucas.

Back when Lucas Campanaro got his first diagnosis, older brother J.J. Campanaro dropped out of UC Santa Cruz a few months before graduating, planning to spend more time with his brother.

“You suddenly realize how nothing is important except for family,� J.J. Campanaro said at the time. “We were a family before, but we never had to pull together like this.�

That’s why Maxine Macha, whose son Corey went to high school with the Campanaros, sent out an e-mail to the Newport Harbor community. From that single e-mail, people donated $11,000 to a fund to help the family.

“In a short period of time, less than a month, we raised $11,000,� Macha said. “That’s amazing, but that doesn’t go very far. What I’m hoping to do is raise more money.�

There are plenty of school graduates who would like to help if they only knew the news, Macha said.

“Kids disperse,� she said. “They don’t see kids from school as much they used to. A lot of families know these kids that would love to help.�

Anyone who wishes to donate can do so at any Bank of America by depositing to the Lucas Campanaro Family Fund, Account No. 12152-67158.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].