The Red and Black

Issue date: 11/20/07 Section: Variety

Media Credit: COURTESY THE TUMORNATORS (From left to right) Chad, Ben and Drew Leathers of The Tumornators pose for a portrait. [Click to enlarge]

In fifth grade, Drew Leathers had a tumor removed from his arm.

His brother Ben Leathers said the doctors didn't think the tumor was abnormal at the time. Then, in eighth grade, he had two more removed.

To date, Drew, who is now a sophomore at Georgia College and State University, has had 13 surgeries and 16 tumors reduced or removed, according to the Tumornators' Web site.

The Tumornators was started by Ben and Chad Leathers, Drew's older brothers, to raise funds for and awareness of Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis research.

In high school, Drew was diagnosed with Schwannomatosis, a rare genetic disease in the Neurofibromatosis family that causes tumors to grow on nerves.

Right now, there is no known cure for the disease, but the Tumornators are working to change that.

Though the disease was recognized recently, the past six months have yielded some positive progress that a cure will be found, said Ben, a University senior from Lilburn.

"They have possibly narrowed it down to what gene it's on: the INI-1 gene," he said. "They're definitely making huge steps."

Ben said he and his older brother Chad were motivated to start the Tumornators after watching their brother struggle with the disease.

"Things just got really bad, and we watched his life just kind of crumble away," Ben said.

Last winter after a trip to Johns Hopkins where Drew had surgery, Ben said he and Chad decided they had to act.

"We can't just sit around and watch this happen," Ben said of their decision. "We have to do something about it."

During the first month, the group raised $30,000 from donors.

"It was just overwhelming. Everybody was just like, 'Oh my gosh. Let's help,'" he said.

Ben said Jeff Francoeur, his friend and an Atlanta Brave, promised to donate a certain amount of money to the Tumornators for every home run he hit in the season.

This Friday, Francoeur once again will lend his name to the group during Rock 4 Research. If attendees want to pay for a V.I.P. ticket, they will get to spend personal time with Francoeur as well as the Leathers' cousin, Matt Stinchcomb, a former Georgia football player.

Later, ticket-holders can go to a concert at the 40 Watt featuring Drew and Ben Leathers.

All the money generated, Ben said, "goes directly to the Children's Tumor Foundation, and they fund research."

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