Margate searches for another ‘perfect match’
By Nanette LoBiondo Galloway
MARGATE – Students of the William H. Ross Elementary School and their families went all out last week to search for a cure for pediatric cancers. They did it to honor their classmate Danny Feltwell Jr., a fourth grader at the Ross School who is fighting his second battle with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
A parent of one of Danny’s classmates, Lisa Fineran, who is also a pediatric nurse at AtlantiCare, organized a bone marrow drive, which was held following an early dismissal on Friday, March 16.
But before things got serious, students got to have a little fun and raise much needed funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
About a dozen children who were among the top fundraisers volunteered to have their heads shaved during a morning assembly in the multipurpose room. Even Principal Michelle Carney-
Ray Yoder got into the action by getting the back of her long blond locks shaved.
Danny’s classmate Jason Silverstein raised the most money, collecting $1,214 in honor of his best friend.
“I did it because I want to find a cure for childhood cancers, and because my best friend Danny is fighting very hard in the hospital,” he said.
Jason was among those on stage that had shamrocks spray painted on their newly shorn heads.
In all, they raised $6,661 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which is the largest non-governmental funding source for pediatric cancer research.
While Fineran began organizing the “Be the Match” bone marrow drive to help find a match for Danny, he learned a week before the event that the National Marrow Donor Program had found him a perfect match. He will undergo a bone marrow transplant on March 27.
Although Danny found his match, we are hoping there will be a match for another child,” she said.
Betty Kelly, a community engagement representative for the Be the Match program, said one in 140,000 who apply to be a donor are matched with a patient and go through with the bone marrow transplant.
Cathleen Smith, 42, a principal at an Ocean City school who filled out the paperwork to be a donor, said that she would be willing to do whatever it takes to save a child.
“No one should have to go through this,” she said. “As a mom, I hope everyone would rally.”
There was a steady stream of potential donors filling out applications and donating their DNA.
Courtney Schlect, 19, a Margate native and student at Cairn University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, was one of the people who had the inside of their cheek swabbed to see if their DNA matches a patient in need.
“I’m not one to like being around hospitals, but if I could help save a life, it would be worth it,” she said.
The Be the Match program looks for donors between the ages of 18 and 44, and does not charge for the test, which costs $100. Although older folks can still participate, they are asked to pay the fee for the test kit because the chances of making a match are slimmer, Kelly said.
In addition to the cheek swab, applicants fill our a detailed questionnaire to determine their commitment to the program and get information about their ethnicity.
“It has a little to do with your ancestral background,” Kelly said.
The test kits are sealed in envelopes and shipped to a laboratory in Minneapolis where technicians look at the DNA to see if it matches a patient.
“A perfect match is 12 markers,” Kelly said.
Donors can stay in the registry until age 61, but can drop out at any time. In addition to donating bone marrow, they can provide stem cells through blood samples, and advocate for the cause.
Danny is currently preparing for his transplant at Christiana Hospital and is undergoing chemotherapy and full-body radiation to wipe out his own bone marrow before accepting the marrow from his donor.
His father Dan Feltwell Sr. said all they know about Danny’s donor is that it is a college-aged male that was found through the national registry. They can learn more about their donor a year after the transplant, he said.
Danny will likely stay at Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children for at least 100 days following the transplant as his body accepts the new marrow.
Feltwell said 46 children are diagnosed with pediatric cancer each day, and more than 20,000 were awaiting a match last year.
“We were fortunate to find a perfect match, and Danny believes that all kids deserve a match,” he said. “Registering means there is a good possibility they can save another child’s life. There is no greater gift to a parent in my situation.”
For more information about the donation process, see bethematch.org/donation.
