Dan Gilbert, Quicken Loans founder, has had great success in business and developing downtown Detroit.
But he tells Huel Perkins of Fox 2 he's had to deal with his son Nick's battle with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that disturbs cell growth in the nervous system, causing tumors to form on nerve tissue. Some of the tumors are benign, but some can be cancerous.
"Throughout the years he's had big challenges. He had brain surgery when he was 10 to save his life. He's been on and off chemotherapy for the last 12 to 15 years," Gilbert tells Perkins "What happens is that these tumors can grow anywhere on your body.
"He only sees out of one corner of his eye. So he 7/8 blind if you will," Gilbert told Perkins. "Thank God we have great doctors who have treated him. And he's the happiest kid I know.
Perkins reports that Gilbert's son Nick is doing fine now and is in college. He says he's not able to drive for obvious reasons.
Fox 2 reports that for the third straight year, Gilbert is hosting a fundraiser for the Children's Tumor Foundation called Benefit III. It's this Saturday at Cobo Center. Click here for details.
"There's a lot happening with gene therapy and adult stem cell therapy," Gilbert told Perkins. "There's always a percentage of kids of all people who are subjected to serious medical challenges at a young age. And you think what would happen if these hospitals went around and these people who dedicated their lives this stuff. So it's a pretty humbling experience, to go through it."
