On Thursday, April 11 the Highland community held a musical and gourmet desert fundraiser for Eric Munson at the High School cafeteria. Munson has been struggling with health issues for the past 15 months and the event was a way for the community to come together to support him and his family in their time of need.

The evening kicked off with the High School Jazz Ensemble performing Duke Ellington’s ‘Echoes of Harlem,’ followed by pianist Lena Tran who played the classical selection ‘Ronda Alla Turca’ by Mozart.

The evening kept switching gears and personnel, moving freely between jazz, rock n’ roll, pop, classical, standards and blues.

Micki Munson said in January 2018 her husband appeared to be having a stroke but it was actually a seizure. A visit to the hospital revealed that he had tumors in his head, which led to him undergoing major brain surgery several days later. Micki said the doctors were able to remove most of the tumors.

“Since then he has been doing all sorts of treatments [but] the tumor started to grow back last December,” she said. “We’ve started a new kind of protocol in hopes to stall it out. The prognosis of this disease is 12 to 14 months and we’re at 15, so that’s a good thing.”

Micki said in January her husband suffered a stroke and two weeks later she found him on the ground having a seizure that left him with some language difficulties, “but you know what, he’s a fighter.”

The couple has been married for 25 years this month and have five children. Matt and Abbey graduated from Highland High School, Zoey is a Junior, Luke is a Sophomore and they are raising a nephew who is in the seventh grade.

Micki said of the evening, “I’m blown away, it’s completely overwhelming. It started with a parent of a musician in the jazz band. The boys all wanted to do something and it snowballed from there. It’s an amazing community.”

Micki said her husband wears a cloth cap called an Optune.

“It’s basically a device that puts electrical impulses into his head and it is supposed to disrupt cell division,” she said. “People who use it as part of their treatment tend to live longer, with research showing from two to five years. It keeps the tumor from growing back.”

Eric said although the event is for him and his family, the planning was all done by friends and supporters.

“We know them, they know us and there are so many people to thank for this coming together,” he said. “I am thankful for people coming out and contributing to this...it is amazing to me.”

Micki took a moment to read a joint statement to the community.

“Since the beginning we made a decision to fight hard and fight hard using Eric’s four circle strategy. The first circle is prayer and spirituality. We are feeling the angels via powerful prayer from a team of spiritual people who surround us always helping us lift up our situation to God. Our second circle is positive pro-activity; this means controlling my stress, visualizing success, bringing joy and love to others and studying the success of long-time survivors of this disease, Glioblastoma. The third circle is traditional treatment; the surgeries, the chemo-therapies, the radiations; all that junk and partnering with my team of Doctors at Sloan-Kettering. Our fourth circle is alternative actions like healthy diet, keto diet, essential oils, massage and reiki, all those things.”

Micki said the support from the community, “means the world to us. We thank you for all you’ve done for me and our family. Your financial support gives us peace of mind and our amazing sponsors are incredible. Your prayers, your positive vibes, they’re just essential. Your love gives us hope and courage to help us keep up this fight. The last request Eric wants is please write him a note; send me your thoughts and let me know how I can pray for you. Love and peace from Eric and all of our crew. Thank you all for being here.”

Eric added, “And if you ever want an amazing life with an amazing wife, this is the one you want.”

Beth Vargas said her friendship with Eric and Micki stretches back to when their kids were together in pre-school.

“They have been involved in the community, everything from the scouts, school, music and when this happened, everyone in the community wanted to pitch in and see how we can support their family,” she said. “The turnout is phenomenal and so many people contributed to it, I couldn’t even begin to tell you.”

Vargas thanked teacher AnnMarie Meisel who brought her Interact students to help out with anything that was needed in running the event and Daniel Shaut, the High School Musical Director. She noted that many others have gone above and beyond by volunteering their time and offering their services to help make the evening a success.

Daniel Shaut said musically he envisioned the evening like a cabaret.

“I wanted to do something different than what we normally do for concert bands [and] allow the students to show off some of their other talents,” he said. “There’s some 1950s stuff, there’s Rihanna and a wide range of jazz. It was cool stuff.”

Shaut said the support from the community and the school district was, “amazing.”

“There are so many teachers, community members and parents who helped put this together,” he said. “All I had to do was put the music on, show up and play, which is pretty awesome.”

The role of Master of Ceremony fell to Peter Fiorese.

“You want to be part of an event like this and you see what great people they are,” he said. “Our kids have gone to school together, we go to church together so it’s one of these things where your lives intersect in a lot of places.”

Carole CrimiVaroli pointed out that whenever there is a need in Highland, “everyone is there to lend a hand.” She recalled that one night she was unable to attend a planning meeting for the fundraiser.

“I got called that night and was told I’m in charge of the silent auction; true story, no lie,” she laughed.

CrimiVaroli said Highland and New Paltz were both very well represented, “because they [Munsons] go to church as St. Joseph’s. It was also incredible to see people here who don’t even know them but wanted to support them. Can you ask for any more than that?”