Posted on 01/28/2014 7:24:20 AM PST by Welchie25
It was one photo, somewhat grainy, of a teenager in a hospital bed, his cotton gown open at the chest, arms raised and fists clenched in a strongman pose.
His expression is pure determination.
It was January 2012 when Zachary Lederer’s father took that photo of him. Zach had just come out of surgery to resect a brain tumor and hoped to encourage concerned friends and family. It was posted online and shared. Someone added, in reference to quarterback Tim Tebow’s widely mimicked genuflecting pose, “Tebowing is out, Zaching is in.”
Then it went viral.
In the weeks and months that followed, thousands of people – some who knew Lederer, some who didn’t – posted photos of themselves in the same pose, showing their support for Lederer or their own indomitable spirit in the face of disease.
Now, two years later, “Zaching” is an icon for the fight against cancer – a fight that, for 20-year-old Lederer, may be nearing its end.
He is at home on hospice care. Zach’s mother, Chris, is an accountant at their parish, Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City.
His grandmother, Howard County Del. Elizabeth Bobo in the Maryland General Assembly, told the Catholic Review Jan. 17 that he was “resting peacefully” at home, but would not expound on his condition on record.
“There’s a lot of beauty to it. He’s setting the tone and the whole family is following his tone,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
Ellicott City ping!
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Prayers up for Zach and family.
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