Helping Nick Portugal in his battle with cancer

As a 12-year-old, our pal Nick Portugal liked to play with friends, play soccer and have pool parties. He was very interested in the military. He enjoyed watching TV and playing Airsoft.

He is close with his brother and the rest of his family. It was a regular day for the Portugal brothers a year ago when the boys were playing hockey. Nick hurt his hip, and his parents took him to a hospital. They found that his hip would heal, but his blood count was low.

Later that night, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of cancer.

Having cancer changed Nick's life. He can't attend school or go outside freely. He has lost so much strength . . . he is unable to even open a water bottle. His taste buds have changed, so he doesn't like a lot of the foods he used to eat.

Things that wouldn't be much more than an inconvenience to most kids could be life-threatening to a cancer patient like Nick, who is undergoing chemotherapy. He gets a fever often.

When students at Nick's school, Harry B. Thompson Middle School in Syosset, found out about his condition, they were all very sad. The day after the news hit, everyone wore orange, the leukemia ribbon color -- even kids who didn't know him.

Shortly after that, fundraisers began. The most successful ones were a breakfast at Applebee's, a game of Airsoft and a T-shirt sale. All funds went directly to Nick and his family. After almost a year, Nick is making excellent improvement. Everyone hopes he will not relapse. Be a soldier and fight in Nick's war against leukemia.

You can see the new movie "The Hunger Games," Nov 22 at 4:15 p.m. and help support Nick. It's at the Elwood Movie Theater,

1950 Jericho Tpke., East Northport. Get your tickets: ticketriver.com (search Nick Portugal).