Zaphod Cooper, 5, and Darlene Robinson, 33, have been named the poster child and poster adult, respectively, for this year’s Ernie Blankenship Memorial Radio-Telethon, it was announced Wednesday at First State Bank in Hillsboro.

Each year, the Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary Clubs organize the radio-telethon to support the Highland County Society for Children and Adults, which provided for the medical need of Highland County residents when other help is unavailable.

The telethon will be held Wednesday, March 27 at the Hillsboro Orpheum from 7-9 p.m.

Cooper and his mother, Dominique Page, live in Leesburg. “While I was pregnant with him, I was recommended to have an amniocentesis to give a definite answer to whether he may have Down syndrome, but I declined because, honestly, it didn’t make a difference to me whether he had it or not,” said Page.

When he was born, it was discovered that along with Down syndrome, Cooper had a severe congenital heart disease in which there is a large hole in the tissue that separates the left and right sides of his heart. At 6 months old, he underwent open heart surgery to minimize the hole, and now it is only a minor leak. He undergoes annual tests to monitor his heart disease.

A few years ago, Cooper was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism as he struggled to gain wait. He was given additional formula to help him grow and gain more weight, and the Highland County Society for Children and Adults helped with the expense.

“Now in preschool, Cooper is thriving and prospering with each passing day. He still faces social and dietary struggles such as being unable to speak and having difficulty eating solid foods,” Page said. “His pediatrician recommended Pediasure to supplement his nutrition, but this too, proved too expensive for our family to afford on our own. Thankfully, the Society for Children and Adults came through for us once again by providing Pediasure to Zaphod every month, enabling his growth and development through his initial years of school.

Oct. 18, 2022, was the first time Darlene Robinson called the Highland County Society for Children and Adults to request assistance. Darlene, at age 31, had developed migraines that eventually caused her to start having seizures. The diagnosis at the time was called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension causing migraines and seizures. The treatment plan was to keep the intracranial hypertension controlled, which would reduce migraines and seizure activity.

The treatments to help control intracranial hypertension were to be done at the Cleveland Clinic Neurology Institute. They involved many hours of IV drug infusions and periodic spinal tabs to reduce spinal fluid levels. Robinson was required to spend the night because the treatments required that she be assessed the following day to receive additional drugs and to make sure the treatment had been effective in reducing the intracranial pressure.

On April 5, 2023, Robinson suffered a stroke. Soon after that a brain tumor was found, and chemotherapy was started to control the tumor growth.

Robinson continued in her treatment plan until November 2023, when she made the decision to take a break to be able to have quality time during the holidays with her two children and family.

Robinson returned to treatment in January 2024 and the brain tumor had progressed to a size grade 2. The treatment plan is to use a drug called Avastin. It is approved to treat glioblastoma in adult patients whose cancer has progressed after prior treatment. She will also be treated with Temozolomide, a chemotherapy drug that was the first drug to improve survival for people with the most common and aggressive type of adult brain tumor: glioblastoma.

Surgery to remove the brain tumor is the goal and could happen within the next few days to a month depending on the response to the two medications.

As the treating doctors have stated, “Darlene has a tough soul and is so strong and has the very strongest mind set to accomplish anything she sets her mind to.”

The society has assisted Robinson in multiple ways throughout her journey and will continue to assist her.

As she has said many times to her doctors, her family and the society, “We just have to keep the faith.”

Robinson and her two children reside in Hillsboro.

Patty Day, director of the Highland County Society for Children and Adults, contributed to this story.