Annual Valerie Fund Walk Helps Kids Fight Cancer And Rare Blood Diseases

VERONA, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Every year the Valerie Fund holds a walk and 5-k Run in Essex County's Verona Park to raise money to help children in the community.

The group's mission is to help provide comprehensive health care for kids with cancer and rare blood disorders.

Dominic De Barry tells WCBS 880's Kelly Waldron there isn't anywhere he'd rather have been Saturday.

"There's a commonality in terms of what families are going through as they battle pediatric cancer and blood disorders," he said. "And then there's a lot of love."

In 2011, his son Nathan was diagnosed with cancer when he was 14-years-old. He says he wanted to support the Valerie Fund, which supported his family in their darkest days.

"We realized we weren't alone," he said.

Now 20-years-old, Nathan has been cancer-free for three years.

Meanwhile, 12-year-old cancer survivor Cami Hestoboldt tells a similar story; she's been walking in the yearly event for five years, and tells WCBS 880, "we know how it feels."

Cami says she wants to be at the walk to support others who are going through what she went through.