Local youth tapped for telethon

May 30, 1997

BALTIMORE - Vincent Iuliano Jr., a 9-year-old fourth-grader at St. Mary's School, will be one of three ambassadors for the 14th annual WMAR-TV Children's Miracle Network Telethon airing this weekend on NewsChannel 2.

Proceeds from the telethon will benefit the Johns Hopkins Children's Center where Vincent has been treated for Wilms' Tumor, a form of kidney cancer, according to the center.

Vincent, the son of Vincent and Nancy Iuliano of Boonsboro, has undergone two surgeries and two rounds of chemotherapy at Hopkins.

The other two telethon ambassadors are Lakeisha Ojo, 11, of Baltimore, and Ben Keyes, 12, of Havre de Grace, Md.

Together the three children will represent all pediatric patients at Hopkins during the 21-hour program that runs from 9 p.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Lakeisha has undergone multiple surgeries to repair a congenital heart defect and Ben had a leg amputated because of bone cancer, according to Hopkins.

In the last 13 years the telethon has raised more than $17 million for the Children's Center.

The money raised this year will fund the purchase of bedside parent sleep chairs, computer support for teenagers with cystic fibrosis, equipment for the pediatric intensive care unit's transport service and two research studies - one to reduce injuries to youth involved in violence and one to evaluate children injured in motor vehicle accidents for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Children's Center is the pediatric hospital of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. The center, with its 177 beds and more than 40 divisions and services, treats more than 8,000 inpatients and 64,000 outpatients a year.

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