The Alternative Press

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ – The Lions Club will be hosting a pancake breakfast benefit fundraiser on Sunday, March 3, to help defray the medical costs of a New Providence High School student who has been diagnosed with a rare eye disease.

The breakfast, which will be held from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Paca Club, will benefit 16-year-old Brian Mansfield, who is suffering from Acanthamoeba Keratitis, a very rare vision-threatening parasitic eye infection that strikes one or two out of every 1 million contact lens users. Symptoms include extreme light sensitivity, blurred vision, pain, foreign body sensation, excessive tearing and discharge. Brian, who has had to stop going to school, underwent Collagen Cross Linking (CXL) surgery in November 2012, an experimental procedure his doctors hoped would get rid of the infection and avoid a cornea transplant. Unfortunately, according to his parents, it did not work and in December Brian had a cornea transplant to get rid of the growing parasite and save his eye.

The Lions Club, with its long history of dedication to sight-related issues, decided to host the fundraiser to assist with the family’s escalating medical costs, according to Lions Club President Al Morgan.

Tickets are $10 per person or $25 for an entire family, and the pancakes will be served with bacon, coffee, tea and orange juice. The Paca Club is located at the corner of Livingston Ave and 1st Street in New Providence.

The Lions also are collecting donations. Anyone who would like to make a special contribution is asked to send a check made out to the New Providence Lions (with “Lions for Brian” written on the memo line) or become a Lions for Brian sponsor. Cost of a sponsorship is $100 per organization or family, and includes public recognition, listing on a poster that will be displayed at the breakfast, and free tickets to the breakfast.

Checks may be sent to the New Providence Lions Club, P.O. Box 854, New Providence NJ 07974. All donations will be given to the Mansfield family and are tax deductible.

The Lions for Brian Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/LionsForBrian?fref=ts

The New Providence Lions are always looking for new members. Information is available on their website: www.nplions.org or by contacting Morgan at (908) 403-8613 or via email: mayormorgan@verizon.net