Leesburg Family Seeks Community Support for 11-Year-Old Son

A Leesburg family is seeking support from the local community during a fundraising event for their 11-year-old son Mathias Giordano, beginning this weekend.

In August, it was determined that Giordano had Osteosarcoma, a type of cancer that begins in the bones, following a number of complaints of lower leg pain.

According to his mother, Roya, it was confirmed that Giordano had cancer following a number of x-rays and visits to the doctor begining in July. Since then, he has had four rounds of chemo and will be starting round five this Friday at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

"Mathias has always been a happy, active and healthy kid, so hearing the word cancer for the first time was very hard on all of us," Roya Giordano said. "It all happened so fast and was so unreal. At that point, we decided as a family to not keep this a secret or be private about any of it, because we want to bring awareness to childhood cancer and to the fact that this can happen to anyone at anytime."

Unfortunately, the medical expenses are adding up. As a result, Manhattan Pizza and Luv'n Berry have offered to raise funds for Team Mathias and will donate 20 percent of the proceeds to the family.

Luv'n Berry, located at 649 Potomac Station Dr., in Leesburg, will host their event all day on Saturday, Sept. 29. Manhattan Pizza's located in Leesburg, Ashburn, South Riding and Herndon will raise funds all day on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Customers are asked to mention Team Mathias when ordering.

Family and friends are also selling t-shirts and ribbons through Loudoun Soccer.

"Mathias is an amazing child. Most kids who go through this are," said family friend Lori Miller, who lost her daughter, Allie, 8 1/2 years ago due to Synovial Sarcoma. "He has been extremely brave but as expected he is scared at times. In the beginning his biggest fear was that his friends wouldn't like him anymore. But that certainly isn't the case."

Giordano attended Sycolin Creek Elementary School last year and was supposed to start 6th grade at J L Simpson Middle School in August. With the aggressive chemo schedule, he is currently receiving home-bound instruction.

"We feel so blessed and incredibly lucky to have so many amazing people who are willing to help and support us through this all," Roya Giordano said. "We know that we couldn't do this without the help, love, prayers and support of the community."