WINTERSET, Iowa — A local McDonald's held a fundraiser Saturday for a Winterset boy and his family dealing with a sudden onslaught of medical expenses.
In November, 10-year-old Weston Barcus went to his parents and told them he couldn't see out of his left eye. This then led to months of doctors' visits in Iowa City.
On Dec. 1, 2023, Weston was diagnosed with ocular melanoma.
“It’s been a little scary, just not knowing what might happen," Weston said.
After going through tests, doctors found that Weston's tumor was half the size of his eyeball. This gave his family a choice to either go through chemotherapy and hope for it to be successful, or remove his eye.
"We decided to go with the second option and just remove it all and be done with it instead of putting him all through the chemo and stuff because there was no guarantee that that was going to work," said Becky Barcus, Weston's mom.
Weston now has a prosthetic eye and will go through multiple fittings for it throughout his lifetime as his body grows.
The Barcus' neighbor, Roy Foley, heard about Weston and wanted to help out.
Foley reached out to the local McDonald's and set up a fundraiser, where 15% of the proceeds go directly to the Barcus family for medical expenses.
While it has been a long road, Weston has remained positive and happy through it all, doing his favorite things, like school.
“In school, we get to do art and math and science and stuff like that and it’s really fun for me," Weston said.
The 10-year-old wants to send a message for people going through something similar.
“It’s okay to be different, but it’s also okay to share those differences," Weston said.
McDonald's raised over $1,000 in the fundraiser on Saturday. There is also a GoFundMe for the family, or you can Venmo @WestonBarcus_FundRaiser.