School & Community News

Benefit for Ralph Hileman

To Our Friends and Family,
On January 31st we had an enormous turnout for Bonnie’s Benefit! And what a BLAST it was! Now it’s Ralph’s turn. On Sunday, May 3, 2009, at the Amvets, on Primrose Street, from 2 - 7, we encourage all of you to come out and support Ralph Hileman. Ralph deserves a celebration of his courage and strength that not only got him through what I would call an extremely difficult time…but which courage and strength helped all of us along the way!
It all began with severe headaches which caused him to become violently ill. He went to his primary care physician. Thank God Ralph insisted on having an MRI! The MRI results showed that he had a brain tumor. Ralph then underwent a needle biopsy and four days later we had to call 911. He could not speak. It was determined that the biopsy resulted in a bleed in his brain. Ralph was then admitted into the hospital for three days of observation.
After he was discharged from the hospital, he was taken directly to Mass General. There he was told he would have to have a craniotomy! Yes…they opened up the left side of his head and removed as large a portion of his tumor that they safely could. Removing the entire tumor would have resulted in Ralph never being able to speak again. His surgery was over 5 ½ hours long, with him awake, his head in an apparatus for a second time! Of course, we all were there for him while he was being wheeled away for his surgery. In looking back, Ralph acted as if he