Bluffton 4 year old to appear on USA Weekend cover Sunday

BLUFFTON - Kameron Mooney's parents will probably never have the money to repay St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for all it has done for their son. But the 4-year-old Bluffton boy is using his big smile to help.

Kameron helps the hospital kick off an annual fundraising campaign by appearing this week with actress Marlo Thomas on the cover of USA Weekend magazine. The publication will be in Sunday's The Lima News.

"Anything we can do to help," said his mother, Tonya Besse. "Obviously, financially we are not able to help them, but any way to give back to them we are more than willing to do."

Diagnosed last January with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the most common cancer in children, Kameron traveled to St. Jude in Memphis, Tenn., soon after his diagnosis and remained there until last month.

He's been in remission since early May but continues chemotherapy treatments. He goes to Dayton for treatment every week and will return to St. Jude once a month.

"Things are going really well," Besse said. "He is in remission. We pray that that was enough and keep going."

Kameron is glad to be home, Besse said, and was especially excited to visit his friends recently at day care.

"He missed being away from home," she said. "He missed his two sisters terribly. That has been really hard, but he's made a lot of friends at St. Jude's too."

Besse and Kameron's dad, Mike Mooney, have not been able to work much while Kameron has been at St. Jude. A fundraiser for the family will be held at 3 p.m. today at the Ada Veterans of Foreign Wars, 2147 state Route 235. The event will include live music, food, auction and raffle.

The USA Weekend feature is about the hospital's Thanks and Giving campaign, which starts Monday and runs through New Year's Day. Various retailers partner with St. Jude, allowing customers to make a donation as they shop. Donations are also accepted at www.stjude.org, or by calling 800-478-5833.

Kameron and a 4 year old from Mississippi appear on the cover and inside with Thomas, whose father, actor and comedian Danny Thomas, founded St. Jude 46 years ago.

Kameron had done photo shoots before for hospital fundraising efforts. His photo was among a group sent to Thomas for consideration for the USA Weekend feature, Besse said. She and Kameron were sent to New York for the photo shoot right before the family returned home to Bluffton.

"Kameron and I both got to meet her. She is very nice, very giving," Besse said of Thomas. Kameron had briefly met her before during a parade in Memphis.

Kameron and his parents have just been invited back to New York to attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and to hand campaign information out to people waiting outside NBC's "Today" show on Friday. He will also appear in a St. Jude commercial expected to run before movies in theaters soon.

"He thinks it's pretty neat," his mom said.

As for the USA Weekend feature, after seeing a promotion for it in the paper earlier this week, Kameron simple said, "Hey, that's me."

What: Fundraiser for Kameron Mooney and family

When: 3 p.m. today

Where: Ada Veterans of Foreign Wars, 2147 state Route 235, Ada

To donate to St. Jude: www.stjude.org, 800-478-5833