Photo: Aaron Palaian
(Houston Chronicle) – Peli Peli co-owner Thomas Nguyen doesn’t have fond memories of prom night.
“It wasn’t great,” says the restaurateur of his own Mayde Creek High School senior dance. “I didn’t have a girlfriend, or lots of friends, or an after-party to go to. I was kind of a lonely kid. It was not the prom that most kids have.”
Worried that the teens receiving treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center were destined for a similar experience, Nguyen took matters into his own hands.
“I wanted them to have a first-rate prom, not some charity prom,” he explains. “That was the goal. That was the mission.”
One hundred pediatric patients attended “Prom Party Palooza” at the Children’s Cancer Hospital recently; some filed in mere hours after chemotherapy while others were escorted directly from critical care by medical staff. The three-level bash featured a superhero room for youngsters, complete with an Elsa impersonator from Disney’s “Frozen,” and Orbit, the Astros mascot. Adults were sequestered on the second floor, dubbed the “park for parents.”
“There was one little guy, wheelchair-bound, wore a white suit – who was just racked,” says DJ Johnny Nguyen, who with partner John McLaughlin (aka Johnny Mac) were in charge of music at the party. (The pair also spin every Sunday at Peli Peli’s Galleria location.) “You could tell this kid was battling hard but really wanted to be there. He put in the energy, so we responded and tried to give him a great night.”