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Community Corner

Lake Orion Alum Bikes 1,300 Miles to Raise Awareness for 3 Families

Lake Orion grad Marc D. DesRosiers pledged to ride his bike over 1,300 miles from Denver to Detroit–ending with the Detroit Marathon—in hopes to raise money and awareness for the Lake Orion Loves.

Lake Orion Graduate Marc D DesRosiers pledged to ride his bike more than 1,300 miles from Denver to Detroit and then run the Detroit Marathon in hopes to raise money and awareness for three very important Lake Orion families.

Lake Orion Loves is the first project under the Sister Souls, Inc, a local nonprofit founded by Kimberly Casper in 2001.

Marc, who started his ride on Oct. 7, has ridden 100 miles or more a day to benefit Max Milewski, Nicole Burton, and Faith Aisthorpe. He will arrive back home just in time to run the Detroit Marathon this Sunday, Oct. 21.

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Additional members of the community will also be joining the cause and running the marathon to raise funds for the children, click here for more information.

Marc's efforts will benefit the families of three special kids:

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Max Milewski was born 11 weeks premature with Down syndrome and cataracts, and now at 2 years old, has begun a long battle with leukemia. His battle can be found on Facebook at Lets fight like Max for Max.

Nicole Burton has been battling cancer since she was 4. Burton was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2008. She has had chemotherapy and treatment at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. In May of 2011 it was discovered that her cancer had returned in a more aggressive way. Read about her at The Community Supporting Nicole Burton on Facebook.

Faith Aisthorpe was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 18 months old. She has been admitted to the hospital over a dozen times for CF exacerbation, pancreas and kidney issues. She takes five oral medications and does up to 12 breathing treatments a day. She also has a permanent IV port in her chest to access for blood draws and to infuse the IV antibiotics when she is in the hospital. Read about her at Fans for Faith on Facebook.

Sister Souls, Inc is teaming up with sponsors Genitti’s Restaurant and David McKnight, owner of Emerald City Designs, to put on a “Finish Line Celebration” for the Lake Orion Loves Children and Marc from 1-5 p.m. Sunday at Genitti’s “Hole in the Wall” restaurant in Northville.

Tickets are $10 at the door for kids and $20 at the door for adults and includes pasta, meatballs, salad, bread sticks, brownies, and soft drinks. There will also be a silent auction and children's activities. Call Genitti's at (248) 349-0522 to purchase tickets in advance.

"We have a goal of raising $100,000 for these families," Casper said. Call Casper at (248) 388-2186 for more information on participating and supporting the efforts.

Mike Saad, owner of WorldLink Marketing, created the site www.lakeorionloves.com which enables people to donate money to “Have FAITH to the MAX, just in the NIC of time.”

For more information about Sister Souls, the fundraisers or the children, visit the Sister Souls, Inc. or Lake Orion Loves pages on Facebook.com or lakeorionloves.com.

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