BRENTWOOD, CA – Dec. 1: A photo of Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer, is posted next to a donation box at the “Tunnels of Joy” holiday display in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The proceeds from the event’s donations will go directly toward the 14-year-old’s medical expenses. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
The pandemic may have put the kibosh on one Brentwood neighborhood’s annual holiday fundraiser party, but organizers say at least their colorful month-long “Tunnels of Joy” light display will be even more spectacular than before.
Since Tuesday, some 90 homes in the Deer Ridge neighborhood have illuminated the skies with festive lighted PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing other holiday house and lawn decorations. Displays are centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives.
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: A photo of Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer, is posted next to a donation box at the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The proceeds from the event's donations will go directly toward the 14-year-old's medical expenses. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: One of the many homes decorated for the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: People take photos of one of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday displays in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Jonathan Henriquez, of Antioch, shows his one-year-old son Nolan, one of the holiday displays at the "Tunnels of Joy" in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: Part of the "Tunnels of Joy" holiday display is photographed in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The "Tunnels of Joy" event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager with bone cancer. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
BRENTWOOD, CA - Dec. 1: The moon can be seen through the lights of one of the holiday displays at the "Tunnels of Joy" in the Deer Ridge neighborhood in Brentwood, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The proceeds from the event's donations will go directly toward the 14-year-olds medical expenses. During the yearly event, about 90 homes in the neighborhood illuminate PVC tunnels that visitors can walk through while viewing holiday decorations. Displays will be centered around La Costa Drive and continue on a loop through Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo drives. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
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“We aren’t able to have that main fundraiser event we usually have because we can’t assemble that many people in a crowded area, but we are still welcoming people on the streets to walk the tunnels and enjoy themselves or drive through the streets if they want to remain safer in their cars,” said Michelle Smith, one of the five “Tunnels of Joy” organizers.
Smith said that, because of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone is required to wear masks and keep their social distance and that the walks are marked for one-way traffic.
“We are asking people to be patient with each other; from 5 to 9 p.m. we will be completely lit up like we have been in the past,” she added.
One thing that’s consistent is that each year the residents in this close-knit neighborhood add more lights, Smith said.
“Almost everyone has added, so it’s brighter and ‘twinklier’ and more festive every year,” she said. “We all love the visitors, and we love seeing the amount of joy it brings, and we are all motivated to make it bigger and brighter and better every year.”
In its fourth year now, the “Tunnels of Joy” event will help raise money for Landon Roper, a Discovery Bay teenager who has bone cancer. All proceeds from the event’s donations will go directly toward the 14-year-old’s family for medical expenses. Landon, a Liberty High School freshman, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in July and underwent surgery in October to remove the cancer as well as four of his ribs, part of his lung and part of his diaphragm. Although doctors say he is now clear of cancer, the teen will still have to undergo chemotherapy for the next few months in Oakland.
Before becoming ill, Landon was on two local baseball teams, the Brentwood Blast and the Pony League and played golf. When he first complained of back pain months earlier, his parents thought it was a sports injury, and a doctor told them he had likely pulled a muscle. But this past summer, just before Landon’s birthday, his mom, Leslie Roper, felt the lump on his back and became concerned, taking him to the doctor shortly afterward on his birthday.
“He was in tears every night,” she said, noting he felt better as soon as the doctor gave him some pain killers, the first relief he’d had in awhile.
Discovery Bay’s Landon Roper, 14, who is battling a rare bone cancer, is this year’s recipient of the Tunnels of Joy fundraiser in Brentwood. The Deer Ridge neighborhood centered on La Costa Drive has lit up PVC-pipe tunnels and decorated homes for the month-long event.
Landon would later undergo three months of chemotherapy, reducing the tumor so it was small enough to be operated on, his mother said.
“He has an amazing attitude toward stuff,” his mom said while waiting at a hospital with her son during another bout of chemotherapy. “He’s a favorite around here. They all come to see him, they talk sports. He’s really chill about everything.”
Landon said he has always tried to remain positive, was a peacemaker with his friends and even wrote a poem called “Smile More” a couple of years ago, his mom said.
And when he started losing his hair as a result of his treatments, he joked about it, pulling out clumps to get a rise from his mom.
“He said it doesn’t even bother him anymore,” his mother said. “He had beautiful thick hair.”
He also doesn’t understand why people want to help him, Leslie Roper said.
“It was pretty cool; it was nice of them,” the shy teen said.
One of three brothers and two stepbrothers, Landon is not used to getting so much attention, his mom said.
“He doesn’t want to come across like a spoiled kid,” she said. “This is all a little overwhelming for him to see so many people trying to give him things.”
Though both of Landon’s parents have flexible work schedules, Leslie said she’s had to cut back on her hours so she can take her son to appointments and stay with him during chemotherapy sessions, which sometimes last for six days at a stretch.
Begun in 2017, Tunnels of Joy was named after another cancer patient, Joy Bursch, who loved Christmas but lost her battle to breast cancer in 2009. And each year as the residents reached out to their neighbors, more lights were added, Smith said. This year one of Smith’s neighbors, Mostafa Gardizi, also has fashioned a play list of Christmas songs that will be broadcast over the radio on channel 87.7 FM over a one-mile radius of the tunnels to add to the festive mood, she said.
“It’s a very special neighborhood,” she added. “We all know each other really well, and we care about each other.”
Also new this year will be the opportunity to donate to the family directly through Venmo at the account “Leslie-Roper-3,” an effort which will include a raffle and prizes. Donation boxes will also be set up on La Costa and Torrey Pines drives, and food trucks will be available on weekends.
“It’s humbling, you realize how many good people are in the world,” Roper said of the donations, which have already started trickling in. “It makes me happy to live in a community like this, to come from an area where people are caring.”
