Wa r re n When Ed Warren was diagnosed with brain cancer, he noticed his priorities shift and learned a great life lesson.

“Always spend enough time with your loved ones, family and friends.”

That is the message the Lancaster resident shares on his blog as he chronicles his battle against a brain tumor. As his family and friends employ the power of the Internet to organize a benefit in his honor on the website www. edwarrencancerfund. com, Warren takes a portion of the site to share the story of his diagnosis and treatment.

On March 27, Warren woke up with a headache that worsened to a migraine accompanied by seizure-like symptoms. A brain scan discovered the tumor, and on March 31, he underwent a craniotomy to remove 40 percent of the mass, but the rest had to remain.

“The other 60 percent is so intertwined into the brain that it would do more harm than good to remove it,” said his brother, Eric.

Now 41, Ed Warren worked for almost a decade at Siegel Landscape & Drainage in Amherst. He no longer can work because of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments he receives in an effort to keep the tumor from growing, his brother said.

Eric Warren added that a committee of family and friends has united, meeting weekly to plan a benefit to help Ed Warren’s family — including his wife, Jen, and sons, Joshua, 8, and Jacob, 6 — with medical and household expenses. The event will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, at the Polish Falcons Club, 445 Columbia Ave., Depew. Tickets will be $25 each and include food, snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks and a cancer awareness wristband in grey — the color signifying brain cancer — containing Ed Warren’s website address.

The fundraiser also will include basket, split club and other raffles, a live auction and music. A special raffle also will give attendees an opportunity to win one of several prizes, including an autographed Derek Jeter jersey, a 32-inch, flat-screen television, and dinner and a hotel stay for two at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens and the Garden Place Hotel.

It is especially difficult for Eric Warren to know that his older brother is going through such hardship with his health.

The pair had worked together at Siegel Landscape & Drainage at one point, Ed Warren as a sales consultant and his little brother as foreman of installation.

“So he sold them, and I put them in,” Eric Warren said.

He added that he is moved by the amount of support the family has received in planning the benefit, from friends offering to set up the entire website to helping to plan all the details of the benefit.

“These guys are here every week,” he said. “They’ve really done a tremendous amount.”

He added that his brother always offered to help those in need, and he hopes that others offer their support by attending the fundraiser.

“Ed would be the nicest guy you’ll ever meet,” Eric Warren said.

For more information about the benefit, visit the website or call Bill Miller at 688-6906 or Dawn Warren Colton at 208-1417.

e-mail: LJohnson@beenews.com