After battling pediatric cancer, 9-year-old raising money for others through flour challenge

Flour -- it's a mess, spreads everywhere, is hard to clean up and sticks to everything. For 9-year-old Gavin DiLorenzo, battling pediatric cancer felt the same way.

Last July, Gavin's parents, Damon and Danielle DiLorenzo said they noticed Gavin had a lymph node on his neck. They went to multiple doctors trying to figure out what was wrong. Initially, doctors said Gavin had an infection.

Then, he was hospitalized at UNC Children's Hospital.

"His health still continued to decline, although they thought it was an infection," said Danielle DiLorenzo.

When his platelets dropped, doctors knew what was wrong.

"He was ultimately diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphona, which is Burkitt Lymphoma, which is a pretty aggressive form," said Danielle DiLorenzo.

For six months, Gavin went through aggressive chemotherapy at UNC Children's Hospital.

"Gavin had five or six surgeries and a spinal tap getting chemo through spinal therapy and bone marrow biopsies," described Danielle DiLorenzo.

"During his treatment, he always said, 'You know, I don't understand why I have to get these medications that make me feel so awful [and] that come with so many side effects. He always said, 'I wish I could take a pill and it would make me feel better and my cancer would be cured,'" said Danielle DiLorenzo.

Gavin also began questioning his diagnosis. He asked his parents and and doctors questions like, why did he have cancer? Why did this happen to me?

"The doctors always said, 'Well, we're always doing research, but we don't have that answer at this time. Hopefully, someday in the future - if you continue to ask me - maybe I'll have that answer for you,'' said DiLorenzo.

Through his time at UNC Children's Hospital, Gavin met other kids battling cancer. Just like Gavin, they struggled with the harsh side effects of the medication they received during treatment.

"One of the medications that he received was actually all the way back from 1959, and it comes with terrible side effects," said Danielle DiLorenzo.

When Gavin's cancer went into remission, he asked his parents about the other children they were continuing to fight.

"We sat down as a family and tried to come up with something," said Danielle DiLorenzo. "Somehow, this flour challenge came out of it."

Gavin's father said that when he and Gavin were in the hospital, they always looked for things that would make them smile. That outlook helped contribute to the flour challenge's beginning.

"I was thinking about the flour challenge [and] I was just thinking it's really funny, you know, somebody's getting flour thrown on them and it's a mess, but you look at them and it makes you laugh ... I thought what better way than kids dumping flour on their parents to bring a smile to their face," said Damon DiLorenzo. "Some type of thing that makes people laugh because that's what you need when you're going through such a terrible time."

The struggle of cleaning up the flour afterwards also helps symbolize the struggle children battling pediatric cancer are going through.

"When you can't get it off after doing it, you're like, 'Wow, I can't imagine what these children are actually going through with the cancer therapies that they're receiving and how difficult it is because it's not a simple thing. It's just kind of gets the whole picture of what we went through," said Damon DiLorenzo.

"Take a minute to try and see what it is like to wash off some flour, and imagine what it's like getting chemotherapy," added Danielle DiLorenzo.

The steps to participate in the flour challenge are easy.

The DiLorenzos said the chose St. Baldricks Foundation because of its focus on cancer research for children.

"We thought that was a great place to have people donate because that's what they are focusing on [and] trying to make better outcomes and better research for pediatric cancer," said Damon DiLorenzo.

As Gavin continues to raise money, he's said he's also happy to be enjoying the little things in life again.

"I'm mostly in school and playing with my puppy," he added. "I'm playing hockey and I'm doing swimming."

"We were actually doing yard work about two months after [going into remission] and Gavin turned to me as he was helping spread mulch into the yard. He said, 'I'm just so happy to be a kid again.' That was something kind of special," added Damon DiLorenzo.

The DiLorenzos have challenged numerous organizations and celebrities to participate in the challenge, including the Carolina Hurricanes, SAS Analytics, Elon Musk and Drew Brees.

Those who participate in the flour challenge are asked to hashtag #DiLoStrong