On Saturday, September 21, 2019, the weather was as perfect as the crowds that came to enjoy some of Central Jersey’s finest handcrafted beers at the Thirteenth Annual Central Jersey Beer Fest. While sipping on their favorite beer, the crowd of approximately 700 people listened to great music, enjoyed delicious food and even threw empty kegs, all for charity, a charity event that is always held for a local child in need. Every year, Mike Cerami, owner of J.J. Bitting Brewing Co. and sponsor of the Beer Fest, selects a local child that he will help by donating the proceeds from the event. This year the event was held to support eight year old Elijah Patino of Fords.
Elijah is battling an extremely rare autoimmune disorder called CD40LG duplication-associated autoimmune disease. There are only two people in the world known to have this disorder, Elijah and his mom, Ami, who miraculously, is not affected. For the past few years, doctors have been able to control his condition with medication but unfortunately, Elijah was no longer responding to the treatment and doctors feared that if they didn’t act quickly, things could take a turn for the worse. As a last resort, Elijah had to undergo an urgent bone marrow transplant on May 9, 2019 to save his life.
Elijah is home now, but the past few months have been long and difficult for Elijah and the Patino family. Elijah spent months at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the family was apart for most of those months splitting time between caring for Elijah in Philadelphia while taking care of Elijah’s older sister Mya, 13, at home in Fords. With this, came the practical financial hardships as well. While most of the medical expenses incurred were covered by insurance, not all costs were. There was also the financial burden for hotels, food, gas, tolls and counseling for the family. To add to this trying time, Ami has had to resign, after 16 years at her job and will be home with Elijah tending to his medical and educational needs as he is unable to return to school for the full year.
As you can imagine this is a tough time for the Patino family, who will not have a sense of normalcy for quite a while. Their focus is to make sure Elijah has the best medical care possible. As Rich and Ami say, “They will fight for Eli as a family! And Patinos don’t quit, we stand strong on a foundation that is Christ!”
Thank you to everyone that sponsored this event, volunteered their time and everyone that came out to enjoy the day. Special thanks to Mike Cerami and his family for taking the time to put this event together for the community and for helping the Patino Family.
If you would like to read more about Elijah and the Patino family please visit their facebook page Prayers for Elijah the Warrior.
Stay Strong little Elijah “The Warrior” Patino .
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