S. Central Elementary students duct-tape principal to raise money for classmate
South Central Elementary School student Blake Ray gets some help from his teacher, Tiffany Kolarcik, to place duct tape on principal Michelle Tomicek. Pieces of duct tape were sold for a fundraising event for student Gregory Lomax Jr., who has kidney cancer.
Gregory Lomax Jr. gives high fives to his classmates as they leave the lunchroom. Lomax wears a mask to help keep infections away while he undergoes chemotherapy.
Gregory Lomax Jr. watches as students duct tape principal Michelle Tomicek to a wall for a fundraiser. Students raised $1,400 from the duct-tape fundraiser, and T-shirt and bracelet are also being sold.
Gregory Lomax Jr. gets a high five from principal Michelle Tomicek after he placed duct tape on her as part of a fundraiser. Lomax was diagnosed with kidney cancer in October and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Gregory Lomax Jr. and his mother, Janice Lomax, pose with Jackson, a golden retriever who greets Gregory at his chemotherapy sessions at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
CANONSBURG – Not many local kids happen to like the Denver Broncos or Celveland Browns as their favorite football teams.
But 7-year-old Gregory Lomax Jr. does.
“I hate the Steelers. They are a terrible team. And I have neighbors who are fans, and I tell them that, too,” said Gregory, who made his first appearance Wednesday at South Central Elementary School, where he is a first-grader, since his diagnosis of kidney cancer a day after his birthday on Oct. 25.
It turns out his blustery attack on the Steelers hid a more heart-rending reason for his Browns and Broncos fandom.
“I like them because their uniforms are orange,” Gregory said. Orange is the color for kidney cancer awareness campaigns. And Gregory was wearing an orange T-shirt that read, “Stay Tough, Play Tough” underneath his Marvel Avengers jacket as he affixed the first piece of orange duct tape to principal Michelle Tomicek to stick her to the lunchroom wall as part of a fundraiser for his family.
“It happened as he was playing football outside with a bunch of friends. He was tackled a couple of times and came in crying and started throwing up. We took him to the hospital and they found a tumor the size of a grapefruit on his kidney,” said Lomax’s mother, Janice.
“If my sister wasn’t in the room, I would’ve collapsed on the ground,” she said.
“If it wasn’t for the support of my friends and the school, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I love them and this school to death. I never knew people could come together like this,” Janice continued. “I’m still shocked.”
The duct-taping event raised $1,400, as students donated money to buy pieces of tape to use on their principal, Tomicek said. Bracelets and T-shirts are also being sold and a spaghetti dinner is planned Jan. 9 at American Legion Post 902 in Houston, she added.
The T-shirts say “It’s Time to Assemble For Gregory,” and feature the likenesses of the Marvel Avengers comic book heroes, with the Incredible Hulk front and center.
“I like the Hulk the best because he can’t be killed. I like the Avengers, basically, because they have the Hulk. He could beat Spiderman or anyone because he can run really fast and jump really high and he’s really strong,” Gregory said.
Gregory’s first-grade teacher, Jackie Roach, lamented he won’t be doing any jumping or running around soon.
“I teach at his home three days a week, and the worst thing about it is he can hear kids outside playing, and he just can’t do that right now. But he’ll be back for our Christmas party,” Roach said.
Gregory said he doesn’t mind the weekly chemotherapy appointments at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh because of a golden retriever named Jackson.
“I hog him. As soon as I walk in, he goes straight to me,” Gregory said. But some days, he needs to use his cane – passed down from his mother after she went through chemotherapy for breast cancer two years ago. Gregory will continue treatment until April.
“Some days he has trouble walking and just doesn’t have the energy,” Janice said, “but what’s helped me out a lot is I’ve went through this, so I’m prepared, and I know what he’s going through. I’m in remission and I’m prepared to help him through everything. And the doctors tell us this is a very treatable form.”