Golden Palace Casino has found a way to use their newsworthy publicity stunts to help make the world a better place. Through eBay, they donated (through the purchase of a bumper sticker) $10,700 to help a young boy suffering with a brain tumour have an expensive biopsy. The nine-year-old lad has been suffering from the tumour for 2 years. Although the family's medical insurance covered most of the Million Dollar Medical costs, the family couldn't afford to have it treated.
The medical expenses exceed one million dollars, with approximately $200,000 per year coming out of the family's pockets. Tiffini Dingman-Grover even resorted to selling personal items on eBay to help cover expenses. Then she thought about an eBay auction to get donations to help her son get his medical treatment. After all, if a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich bearing an image of the Virgin Mary -can fetch many thousands of dollars, then surely her son's health was a much better cause.
Bids were topping more than $3,500, and were pouring into eBay when the Web site's officials announced that they were stopping the auction.
Ebay spokesman, Hani Durzy, said the auction posted by the boy's mother, Tiffini Dingman-Grover violated some of the site's rules and would be canceled, along with the several thousands dollars in bids made yesterday toward the cost of treating her son's cancer.
A discouraged but persistent Dingman-Grover posted a new auction which followed eBay's rules, which only allow the mention of donations if a validated charity is the beneficiary. The revised auction bor the heading: "Frank Must Die." (Frank is the nickname David has given to the tumor at the base of his skull), and the successful bidder will win a bumper sticker with that inscription on it.
Then she contacted the previous bidders in hopes that they would visit the new site and rebid. In the first hour, there were 400 hits and bids reaching $4,550.
Dingman-Grover and her husband, Bryn Grover, were bewildered and upset by the decision. "They have so much [junk for sale] online," Dingman-Grover said. "I think this is rotten."
EBay officials said that, although they were sympathetic to the family's situation, they maintain strict standards about charitable donations and other solicitations for money and could not bend the rules.
Two years ago, in 2003, a fist-size tumor was found on the back of David's skull. Chemotherapy and radiation have shrunk the tumor to the size of a peach pit, and oncologists say the boy now needs a costly biopsy at a Los Angeles medical institute to see whether it is still active, requiring continued chemotherapy.
GoldenPalace officials had been following the story, said spokesman Monty Kerr said, and felt compelled to get involved. 'We've had a lot of fun buying strange things on eBay, but when we saw David's auction we knew we'd have to help him,' Kerr said.
