Photography by Rick Ogata/Special to Hawaii247.com

Story by Miranda Ogata/Special to Hawaii247.com

Dealing with a disease is never easy, but when it’s your child and it’s cancer, that’s a whole other ballgame. Clayton and Pauline Morante found out in May, right after Mothers’ Day, that their second son Clayson has Non-Hodgkin’s T-cell Lymphoma. While this was devastating news for the family, they are holding strong and doing what needs to be done to beat this challenge. Clayson is undergoing a six-month course of chemotherapy and will be on oral medications for up to three years, but his prognosis is very good. However, none of this is cheap, and that’s where the community has come into play…. literally.

A benefit volleyball tournament has been put on at the armory, with the team entry fees going to help the Morantes. Twenty-eight teams participated, and in fact there were so many teams wanted to get involved that some teams had to be turned away. There have also been numerous donations, of time, money, and prizes to help make the tournament a success. The majority of the team players are from the Big Island, but there are some off-islanders as well. The teams are also comprised of a wonderful assortment of people. There are players from the West side, there are players from the North side, there are players from the East side, and there are even a few players from the South side. There were teams of youngsters, teams of adults, and teams of generous mixing of both. There were even some teams that were an entire family, from little ones up to their grandparents. A strong showing of support given to a good family in their time of need.

If anyone is interested in offering their well-wishes to the Morante family or to assist them with monetary donations, they can be reached by phone at (808) 966-8283 or by mail at 16784 Kaluha Place, Keaau, 96749. Their email address is clayleenm@hawaiiantel.net, and they are working on setting up a Paypal account if anyone is interested in using a credit card to help them out.