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With live music returning to Austin after over a year of pandemic, two shows in Westlake have special meaning for Gina Caro and her family. Eane’s Superintendent Tom Leonard is organizing the shows at the Parker Jazz Club in downtown Austin this week as part of a Jazz 4 Gina fundraiser.
The show on June 2nd is already sold out, but tickets are still available for the second show on Friday, June 4th at 8pm.
Gina has just finished her freshman at Westlake High School and has fought cancer and won four times in her short life. Leonard said he met Gina during the campus annual fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society when she was a student at West Ridge Middle School. He visited her at Dell Children’s Hospital during her second cancer and at a San Antonio hospital that included a bone marrow transplant during her third.
“Gina is a magical young woman,” he wrote in an email. “Like many of Eane’s ISD students, she is caring, eloquent and motivated. … We share a love of music and I played the saxophone and piano for them during our time together. “
Gina said she loved jazz and had fond memories of celebrating her second remission with Leonard and her family at the jazz club. She said although she is sad that her immune system is preventing her from taking part in the fundraiser, she will watch the livestream and dance at home with her brother.
“Life is not always what you imagine and when it hits you you have to find courage and move on. Never look back and always be grateful for the present moment, ”she said. “I am very honored and my heart is so full of happiness and sadness not to be there. I am so grateful for all the generosity and kindness of my friends and the community. “
Brett La Bissoniere, a seventh grade science teacher in West Ridge who helps organize the annual fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, taught Gina several years ago. La Bissoniere said that when Gina’s cancer returned three weeks into her seventh year, her sixth and seventh grade teachers took turns visiting her at Dell Children’s to provide her treatment.
“She is wise beyond her years because of her experience,” she said. “She loves P. Terrys, she loves Torchy’s tacos, she loves spicy food, she loves comics and K-pop bands. In many ways she is like any other youngster … (and) she is the strongest person I have ever met. “
A year ago, La Bissoniere started a GoFundMe for Gina’s family, which is back in circulation in the run-up to the jazz fundraiser. She said she was encouraged to see how much the community was willing to donate.
“All in all, our Eanes community has been extremely generous, whether through this event or through our Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraising drives,” she said. “It really helps our students understand the importance of giving back and it was great for Gina and her family.”
At the upcoming jazz shows, Leonard and his band of Eanes students and alumni named Dr. L and the All-Star Chaps occur. These include Hunter Nyhuis on piano, David Webber on drums, Ethan Lord on alto and tenor saxophone, Thomas Goldstein on bass and Margo Zell on vocals.
The event is also attended by several graduates including Zach McCall on trombone, Asir Hussain on trumpet, Jerry Grace on drums, Ian Oliver on tenor and baritone sax, and Greyson Hillin on guitar.
McCall said he was really happy to be back on stage and supporting a fellow student.
“I love being on this stage and I love the people,” he said. “I’m really glad we can support Gina and Jazz all over Austin and the Westlake community.”
Nyhuis, who graduated in 2020, expressed a similar opinion.
“Music is so healing and music is so powerful and can reach so many people in so many ways,” he said. “It is a privilege and an honor to be able to be part of something like this.”
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