Heroes for Hope

Superheroes stormed St. Rita's for the first ever Heroes for Hope, a campaign by Alter Ego Comics that makes special visits to pediatric patients. Their first stop was to a very special patient, 9 year old Jonah Aregood, the only child in the area battling Common Variable Immune Deficiency. "Usually it's between 1 in 25,000 or 1 in 50,000 people that are diagnosed with it. Typically it is adults, it's very rare for children to be diagnosed with it. The body isn't making the antibodies that we as normal, healthy people make to fight off infection," said Jonah's mother, Molly. 

Jonah was born with CVID, and he sees 16 specialists for constant treatment. He can't be around other patients because of his risk of getting sick, so the superheroes came to him. The owner of Alter Ego Comics, Marc Bowker, said, "We're so glad that we were able to meet with him individually, because there are kids that be around other children, so if we have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a superhero fan we're more than happy to do that." Jonah wears a mask to protect him from infectious air, a disguise superheroes say is reserved for the bravest warriors. "Jonah was saying that he's a little self-conscious wearing his mask because he's the only one. Well, there's people here wearing masks and costumes so I'm sure he can relate to them and the folks can relate to him, as well," said Bowker.