Among the runners lining up for the start of tomorrow’s Half-Marathon Derby is Teresa Perozzi, Bermuda’s top female boxer. With the gloves off and a special T-shirt of her little step-brother, Mihdi Brock, on, she will be raising funds for his ongoing medical expenses.

Ten-year-old Mihdi has progressive kyphoscoliosis and is undergoing alternative medical treatment by Dr. Baolin Wu in Los Angeles, California. He lives with his father, Bermudian Marvin Brock who, due to the constant and unpredictable demands of looking after his son, is unable to take a job.

Mr. Brock is divorced from Mihdi’s mother, who is also Ms Perozzi’s mother, although she lives nearby and is fully involved in her son’s treatment.

Inspiration for using the marathon as a fund-raiser for her step-brother followed a recent trip to California to see him, during which Ms Perozzi visited Dr. Wu.

“I had heard so much about Dr. Wu over the years, but I had never met him on any of my previous visits, so this time I went to meet him, and made an appointment to get an evaluation, more to make my mother happy. He is a clairvoyant on top of everything else, and she felt that if he saw anything bad that was going to happen to me he would tell me,” she said. “Of course, I also wanted to know about Mihdi because it helps when you get firs-thand experience of his treatment, and you see how enjoyable and intuitive Dr. Wu is.”

In fact, Ms Perozzi underwent four days of treatment by Dr. Wu for lower back problems she had been experiencing, which have now disappeared.

Once back on the Island the boxer was approached by Team Hope and asked to run in tomorrow’s marathon to raise funds for the Dr. Marjorie Bean Hope Academy.

“Then I thought, ‘I have a brother, and there is a registered charity for him. Why don’t I run for him?’ That is what really motivated me to do it,” Ms Perozzi says.

She explains that because Mihdi undergoes alternative medical treatment with Dr. Wu, who specialises in Chinese medicine, insurance will not cover it, hence the constant need to raise more funds.

“Until my brother stops growing, which it is estimated will be in another five years or so, the treatments will continue. Without them, he will regress quite quickly.” Ms Perozzi admits the insurance stance is “very frustrating”.

“They will pay for the outrageous cost of surgery every six months, which is what would be required, but not for the alternative treatment which has proved to work so far. Doctors look at Mihdi’s X-rays and say, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing because he is all right for now’. They see the treatment is working, and they leave it in my parents’ hands.

“People don’t realise alternative medicine is an option, and most people would not make the sacrifices my parents have made by choosing this treatment for Mihdi. In fact, they moved to California from New Hampshire to work with Dr. Wu.”

Ms Perozzi says her step brother is “very happy, and not in pain”. He attends school when he can, but his speech and certain other aspects of his development are “not those of a typical ten-year-old at the moment”.

Tomorrow will mark the third time the boxer and mother-of-one has run the May 24 marathon, but her first as a fund-raiser for Mihdi, and she would like to make it an annual event.

More immediately, her goal is “to break two hours”.

“I train in all weathers so I am ready for anything,” she says.

[bul] Anyone wishing a pledge form should e-mail bodyinbalance[AT]northrock.bm Alternatively, donations can be made payable to The Mihdi Joon Fund and mailed to Suite 204, 48 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11. For further information ( 799-0399.