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March 13, 2002
Unions help boy needing transplant
Matthew Hendry loves hockey and skiing, riding scooters and bikes. Many members of the Glens Falls Teachers Association know about Matthew, even though he goes to school in neighboring Queensbury. That's because Matthew has leukemia, his mother Nadia is a Glens Falls teacher, and her colleagues want to help.
A host of groups are raising money for costly bone marrow drives, seeking a match for Matthew to receive a transplant. Finding a match for Matthew, who is of Lebanese and Scottish descent, has been a challenge, according to Donna Schoelermann of the Glens Falls TA, because there is little ethnic diversity in the national registry.
With colleagues from Queensbury and Hudson Falls, the Glens Falls TA has raised more than $20,000 to sponsor bone marrow drives, including one in Tupper Lake (where Nadia grew up in the central Adirondacks) to draw from the Lebanese-American population there. About 125 people were tested at each drive, organizers said.
Glens Falls colleagues have wrapped Nadia in a blanket of donated sick days to be with her 5-year-old son through long days of surgeries and medical procedures.
"Our members have really stepped up to the plate," said Sue Hildebrandt, Glens Falls TA president.
Matthew first became ill in 1999. Through treatments, he got well enough to start kindergarten. This winter, he had a recurrence. Again, sick days have been donated.
TA members also held 50-50 raffles, sponsored a dress-down day at school and helped stage a major fund-raiser with the local professional hockey team at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Retired teachers from the union sponsored a bake sale at the event.
The Glens Falls TA has put together a kit so people can have their blood tested to see if they are a match. Prospective donors may order the free kit by mail and bring it to their doctors, who will submit the results to a donor registry. Contact Schoelermann at dschoele@gfsd.org, or at 18 Towpath Lane, Glens Falls, N.Y. 12801.
Monetary donations may be sent to the Matthew David Hendry Fund at the same address. People also may contribute by donating blood to the American Red Cross.
- Liza Frenette
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