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Fundraiser Set For Tampa Teen Fighting Deadly Fungus

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2008

TAMPA - When Marlene Brewer heard about Carli Stack, the Plant High School teen who contracted a deadly fungus while battling leukemia, the former oncology nurse wanted to help.

Brewer, a clinic manager for USF Physicians Group, is organizing a dinner and silent auction that has brought some heavy hitters to the table including Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Earnest Graham. The event is scheduled for Dec. 1 at Plant.

Graham's foundation, Earnest Giving, helps underprivileged children and has offered to donate items for the silent auction, Brewer said. The agency's board president, Steve Brickner, is helping promote the event.

Auction items will include tickets to football games and a "day in the life" with local doctors, judges and other notables who will allow students to shadow them during their workday.

Restaurants, including Wright's Gourmet Cafe, Pipos and Pei Wei Asian Diner, where Slack worked this summer while saving for a car, will provide food for the dinner, said Brewer, who's looking for more volunteers.

Her goal is to bring at least 500 people together to raise money for Slack, a junior at Plant who was diagnosed with cancer in July.

Slack, 16, underwent treatment and was considered in remission, when she contracted a fungus her doctors described as mucormycosis, her parents, Kevin and Edith, said. The deadly bacteria are eating away at her organs, complicating her cancer treatments.

Doctors predicted Slack would die three weeks ago, but she has beaten the odds so far and continues to show small improvements, her dad said.

Brewer was moved by Slack's story and hopes the money raised helps will help Slack's parents remain by their daughter's bedside at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.

Children fighting cancer "is kind of my passion," Brewer said. Some of the proceeds from this event will go toward research in pediatric cancer, she said.

For information about the event or to volunteer, call Brewer at (813) 334-4112 or 1Voice Foundation at (813) 868-1999, or go to www.1voicefoundation.org.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

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