Advertiser Staff
Four charity groups have joined to raise a quarter-mile of quarters — $3,960 — to help a 13-year-old Pearl City boy move to California, where he will receive a new liver.
Dakota Denomie contracted hepatitis C a couple of years ago, and the virus has damaged his liver. He has advanced cirrhosis and needs an emergency operation. He has been on a transplant waiting list for nearly two years
Cyndi Denomie and her son plan to move to Palo Alto, Calif., to be near Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, where the transplant will be performed. But Denomie, a single mother of two children, can’t afford the cost of the move on her own.
During the 2001 Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open tournament Thursday through Feb. 17 at the Kapolei Golf Course, a charity volunteer with a sign and a fishbowl will collect donations to help the family.
The four charities, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Hawai‘i State Women’s Golf Association for Junior Golf, Hawaiian Humane Society and the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawai‘i, have all received money raised during LPGA tournaments. Dakota is the grandson of Norma Baxter, volunteer coordinator of the Ladies Hawaiian Open Golf Tournament.
"We all have such respect and aloha for Norma, that once we learned of Dakota’s situation, we were very eager to step up to the plate and offer our support," said Donna Fouts, executive director of United Cerebral Palsy.
The charities say 12 quarters measure up as 1 foot, so a quarter-mile would be needed to send Denomie and his mother on their way. Other forms of currency also will be accepted.
Anyone interested in donating can send a check to Dakota Denomie Medical Fund, Central Pacific Bank, Makiki Branch, 818 Ke‘eaumoku St., Honolulu, HI 96814.
For more information, call 532-6744.
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