Pizza for a Cause: Bethel Park event benefits Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

When it comes to culinary delights, plenty of people share Dale Himmler’s perspective.

“I love pizza,” the Bethel Park resident said. “It really is my favorite food.”

It ranks right up there for his son, too.

Clayton Himmler was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that can cause mucus to build up in the lungs, pancreas and other organs. But his life is going as well as can be expected, according to his mother, Jen.

“He’s a 5-year-old who loves preschool, loves biking, loves being active,” she said.

With regard to pizza, Clayton joined more than 100 fellow aficionados in filling their appetites during an event organized by his parents to benefit the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Pizza for a Cause, held March 25 at Christ Church in Bethel Park, provided an opportunity for participants to try slices and then vote on which ones they liked best. Seven restaurants donated pies, and their identities were kept secret while everyone was eating.

Let’s just say that all of ’em came out winners: Big Guys Pizza and Country Style Pizza in Bridgeville, Caliente Pizza & Drafthouse and Crust! Café and Pizzeria in Mt. Lebanon, Donte’s Pizzeria in South Park Township, Slice On Broadway — Beechview, and the Pizza Company Upper St. Clair, which technically is in Bethel Park.

Along with thanks to the pizza shops, Jen and Dale expressed a great deal of appreciation for the event’s sponsors — Spartan Pharmacy, Brunton Dairy and South Park Shops — and for the support of Christ Church, where the Himmlers are active members.

Because practically everything for the fundraiser came as a contribution, Pizza for a Cause generated more than $2,000 toward the fight against cystic fibrosis.

“All of the donations that don’t just happen here within Western Pennsylvania, but nationwide, can be funneled into new research for new therapies and medications,” Dale said.

Nearly 40,000 people in the United States have cystic fibrosis, according to the foundation, and the majority are diagnosed by age 2 thanks to newborn screening tests.

One was administered to Clayton shortly after his birth in 2017. The positive result was a shock to his parents, as nothing in their families’ histories pointed toward either parent carrying the recessive gene linked to the disease.

“We were obviously upset,” Jen said. “But we vividly remember a nurse telling us, ‘There is so much hope and optimism because of the advances being made.’ And fast-forward five years, even just the changes in Clayton’s lifetime have been phenomenal. We’re lucky he was born in a time where there are more treatment options.”

For example, a medicine called Trikafta helps mitigate protein defects caused by cystic fibrosis. At this point, Clayton isn’t old enough to be prescribed the medicine, as per the conditions of its 2019 approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“He still does his daily chest therapy. He still takes nebulized medications. He still has to take pancreatic enzymes,” his mother said. “But with the new medications coming out, hopefully he should be able to have a much more normal life expectancy, and go to college and work full-time and have a family and all those things.”

For more information, visit www.cff.org/chapters/western-pennsylvania.