West Linn couple holds Blue Butterfly benefit to honor son

Max Dearborn lost his battle against cancer in 2001 when he was just 7 years old, but his parents are still going to war against the disease, fighting in Max’s name.

Jayne and Chris Dearborn are holding their third annual Max’s Blue Butterfly Campaign fundraiser this weekend.

“The disease hasn’t stopped. As long as that continues, we’ll want to play a role,” Jayne Dearborn said.

In July 2000, the Dearborns’ middle son was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a particularly ruthless and painful form of leukemia. He was given a 10 percent chance to live. After enduring three rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and a cord blood transplant over the course of seven months, Max lost his battle.

Because AML is a more rare form of leukemia, it doesn’t receive a lot of attention or funding for research. The Dearborns are working hard to bring notice and money to AML research, specifically the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital because of its pioneering research efforts.

“We did our research and Dr. Davies is doing cutting-edge research. It’s a hospital where we felt our money would get the best results,” Jayne Dearborn said.

“All of the nonprofits around leukemia are extremely important. The research is critical because without that we aren’t going to make any yardage on this thing,” Chris Dearborn said.

In Max’s memory, the Dearborns created the Blue Butterfly Campaign with the intention of giving back and returning “all the goodness and kindness that came our way.”

Over the last two years, the Dearborns have raised $90,000 for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The Dearborns want to not only cure the disease, but also to raise awareness of it.

“Coming back to regular life after being in the war zone for seven months ... what really struck me is that most of us don’t even know this is going on. They don’t have an understanding how much these kids suffer,” Chris Dearborn said.

He compared the suffering the kids with AML go through to that of burn victims, with skin just ravaged. The treatments not only kill the cancer cells, but also healthy cells, leaving the kids with no immune system and damaging their organs.

“No child should have to go through that,” Jayne Dearborn said. “The odds need to be better for these kids.”

When Max was first diagnosed and going through treatment, the community rallied around the Dearborn family. A core group of about seven volunteers continue to help the family with the annual golf fundraiser and evening dinner and auction.

This year’s guest speaker at the dinner will be Jill Metz, a Portland woman and founder of the Nick Wilson Charitable Group, named for her son who died of childhood cancer. She works to raise funds to support families with children undergoing cancer treatment and blood and bone marrow transplants at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

And though Max has been gone for more than 10 years, he remains a bright spot in the family, which includes older brother Michael, 22, and younger brother Sam, 14.

“He was an old soul; he’d been around a couple of times for sure. He would have been wise for 80. He was just one of those kids,” Chris Dearborn said of Max. “I learned a lot from him. I went to school watching him struggle, and I went to school watching him die. He was mostly concerned about us.”

“He had the most unconditional loving heart,” recalled Jayne Dearborn.

While undergoing treatment, Max would bring his stuffed dog, Whisper, with him wherever he went. Now Whisper has a home in bed with his parents, a constant reminder of Max.

Though registration is now closed for the golf tournament, tickets are still available for the dinner, which is set for Friday at Langdon Farms Golf Club, 24377 N.E. Airport Road in Aurora.

For more information or to make a donation to the campaign, visit bluebutterflycampaign.org.