Winters will be passing more than footballs tonight when it hosts Iraan at Blizzard Stadium.
The district announced on Facebook Thursday evening that the Winters cheerleaders and student council members will be passing a bucket to raise money for a Ballinger High School student battling cancer.
Pedro John Alfaro Jr., 18, underwent surgery in July to remove from his chest a fatty tumor that doctors initially thought would be noncancerous. A week later, the high school senior learned he has fibromyxoid sarcoma, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help the family with medical expenses.
Alfaro, a member of the Ballinger football team, went to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston this week for treatment, according to the GoFundMe page.
Since Alfaro’s brother-in-law, Sean Bean, set up the GoFundMe page last month, $1,000 has been donated. That was double the $500 goal.
Bean and his wife, Priscilla, who is Alfaro’s sister, are raising the teen and his other siblings, according to the GoFundMe page.
Bean said Friday that the MD Anderson team is assessing treatment options, which may be surgery, or radiation and surgery.
“Pedtro is doing very good and holding up very strong. He has had his head high through the whole process, and we are proud of him,” Bean said.
There have been other fund-raisers in Ballinger for the family, such as a donation drive during the high school’s football game against Cisco Sept. 27.
“The support we have had has been a blessing and very outstanding, and we appreciate everything everyone has done,” Bean said.
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Laura Gutschke is a general assignment reporter and food columnist and manages online content for the Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.