New Egypt Family Fights Back Against Leukemia [AUDIO]

New Egypt residents Andy and Jill Pritikin were dealt a parent's worst nightmare when their 12-year-old son, Justin, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last May.

The family, however, never had the chance to say, "Why us?" That's because the entire community got behind Justin's fight against the illness.

"Even though we feel very unlucky because of what happened, we also feel very lucky because of how things are turning out and because we got to experience this great sort of spiritual uplifting of love from our neighbors," Andy said.

Inspired by "Linsanity" last year, "Justinsanity" became the rallying cry for the community as Justin took leukemia head-on. Justin is now in remission after countless hours of treatment, which he continues to go through at this time.

Andy says the town of New Egypt, as well as the camp community rallied behind to provide support in every which way towards his son recovery. Andy is the owner and operator of one of the state's largest day camps - Liberty Lake.

He was nominated this year as a candidate for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of New Jersey's 2013 Man of the Year. He is wrapping up a 10-week campaign on Saturday to raise $75,000 to support blood cancer research in honor of "Justinsanity."

"As they say, everybody is a winner in this thing. Whatever we raise is going to a great cause."

The Pritikins plan to celebrate the achievement of their goal on Saturday with New Egypt community and the Liberty Lake family.

"We were constantly surrounded by love and this is our way of giving back."

Learn how you can support Andy by visiting www.mwoy.org/nj.

More Good News

Excel Fitness Center

Excel Fitness Center in Bernardsville is sponsoring "Run the Track to Give Back," a 24 hour track-a-thon to raise money for Semper Fi Fund, a non-profit that provides financial support for injured and critically ill members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.  The event will take place on June 15 at the Morristown-Beard School track.  Last year's event raised over $40,000.  To learn more, click here.

Haircut-A-Thon

Ocean and Monmouth County hair salons are giving back to the victims of Superstorm Sandy.  During a "Do the Most for the Coast" haircut-a-thon, participating salons will donate 10 percent of all haircut proceeds to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. The event is being spearheaded by 22-year-old Christina Messano, a hairstylist at The Cutting Crew in Sea Grit.