INDIANA COUNTY, Pa – Six-year-old Ian Bingaman loves to play Xbox. Specifically, Fortnite.
But Ian has a DIPG, a tumor on his brain stem.
“He doesn’t know the severity of it. He knows it’s a tumor”, his grandmother Rhonda Manners said. “He knows it’s cancer…He just calls it a bump on his head because that’s the first thing I told him it was. I took it step by step and little by little as we went.”
Manners takes care of Ian and his two younger sisters. She said she’s making every moment last with her grandson.
“I’m enjoying everyday I can with him because it’s all about him right now,” Manners said.
When the Make-a-Wish Foundation offered to do something for Ian, he didn’t want to meet someone or take a trip. He asked for something he could use everyday: a new bedroom.
His new room is complete with Xbox, TVs, and new furniture for the young gamer.
To help with medical expenses for the six-year-old, friends and family are having a spaghetti dinner on July 27. It’s at the American Legion in Northern Cambria, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rhonda said the support they’ve gotten is incredible, but it’s her faith, and the love of her family, that keeps her going.
“God, I think he’s gonna give me the miracle I need, if not, he’s gonna let these clinical trials that I’ve signed Ian up for,” she said. “We’re gonna find a cure for this. We’re gonna help other children, as well, and I just don’t ever want to see another child go through this.”