Fallon D’Aguiar, a first grader at Charles Drew Elementary School, decided receiving her very own playground set was slightly better than the pepperoni pizza that came with it.
“Both of them I love, but the swing I like a little better,” said the seven-year-old on Friday as she and her three-year-old brother Alden marveled at all that was happening in the backyard of their home on Windmill Lane in Silver Spring.
Things haven’t always been so bright for Fallon, who loved to play but was often tired, and “She’d get bruises on her skin,” but she said she hadn’t fallen, said her mother, J’amie D’Aguiar.
Then, a few days after an active karate class, Fallon couldn’t walk and was in a great deal of pain, her mother recalled.
She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia around Christmas of 2023. “Merry Christmas. You have cancer,” her mother said, shaking her head.
Roc Solid Foundation learned of Fallon’s illness through the hospital. For the past 16 years, that Virginia company has been gifting playground sets and playhouses to children. This year, they expect to deliver close to 500 sets to children suffering from pediatric cancer, said Roc Solid found and chief play officer Eric Newman.
Newman is a pediatric cancer survivor who wants to give back. When he was about Fallon’s age, he was given a 10% chance of survival, he told MCM.
Newman gets the community involved, working with companies whose employees volunteer their time putting the equipment together.
He works together with many companies whose personal look for volunteer projects in the community. StarKist has headquarters in Reston, Virginia, and offered to bring some of its staff to help out. About 15 StarKist employees worked in the D’Aguiar’s backyard Friday, battling rain as well as construction hiccups.
“It’s a great team building event, a great bonding exercise for them to come together and feel like they can accomplish something,” said Mike Merritt, head of marketing at StarKist.
“I feel so passionate about the work they do. They change lives,” he said of Roc Solid Foundation.
When Fallon isn’t enjoying her new playground set, she will be going to the park or drawing. In school, math and recess are her favorites.
