Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Registry in Honor of Maureen's Memory

Yesterday, in cooperation with the Red Cross and Be the Match and Saint Michael's Parish, we hosted a blood drive and bone marrow registry in honor of Maureen.  The turnout for the blood drive was fantastic.  Since it was our first blood drive, the Red Cross had set a goal of 34 units of blood; however, we collected 51 units of blood and could have collected much more.  We had to turn people away because the Red Cross ran out of supplies!  It was a great tribute to Maureen.  I had a great deal of help in putting this together from a wonderful group of friends.  The team of volunteers canvassed North Andover and surrounding towns putting up posters and put links on their Facebook pages, etc. and even set up a Sign  Up Genius for volunteers to sign up.  They also assisted on the day of the drive.  Many businesses throughout the area displayed the posters. Stachey's Pizza, owned by our friends the Hollands, kept us fueled with donated pizza!  I am very grateful to all of these dear friends who put in time and effort to make this a fitting tribute to Maureen's memory.

Three of the nurses who cared for Maureen at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Bridgett, Julie and Sam - came out to the blood drive.  It was wonderful to see them again.

As if it wasn't a big enough day already, it was also Emma's 16th birthday!  Emma's volleyball team came to help with the blood drive (they were too young to actually donate), and the coach, Ms. Pinkston donated a unit of blood!  While it certainly wasn't your typical "sweet sixteen" party, it was definitely a very meaningful one.  However, we did have birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday"!

Maureen's mother Kay came in from Ohio for a visit, staying here from Saturday through yesterday, and my sister Gina also made a surprise visit from New York, coming to Emma's volleyball game on Monday and staying through this morning.  Maureen's Aunt Debbie, her cousin Margien and her cousin Joe's wife Jane, were all present at the blood drive.

I can't say, "thank you", enough to all of the volunteers who made this such a successful event.  Their efforts were testimony to how much they loved Maureen and wanted this to be a fitting tribute to her memory.

Jim

Visit to Beth Israel and Blood and Bone Marrow Donor Drive in Maureen’s memory.

On June 7 Emma and I went in to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to visit with some of the staff.  It was a moving experience to go back to where Maureen had spent so much time being treated for leukemia.  We visited 7 Feldberg (the hospital floor where Maureen was a patient) and the two clinic areas, Shapiro and Stoneman.  Julie Mitchell, one of the nurses who Maureen and our family became very close to, came in on her day off.  We also spent a good deal of time with Sam (Maureen’s admitting nurse on December 16, 2014 and who, with Julie, was caring for Maureen the day that she passed.  We also spent a good deal of time with Dr. Matt Weinstock, who cared for Maureen as a fellow and will become an attending physician in August.

We also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new center that Dr. Avigan (Maureen’s attending physician) leads.  In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Avigan is developing revolutionary new therapies for fighting cancer using the patient’s own immune system.  For those of you who have generously given to the tribute fund, this is where the money is going.  This center will be leading a collaboration of major medical centers throughout the country in developing a way to vaccinate cancer patients.  The method fuses a sample of the patent’s dendritic cells (the “teacher” immune cells, so I’m told) with a sample of the patient’s cancer cells to develop a vaccine that is readmitted to the patient to teach their immune system to attack the cancer.  It has shown success in a number of patients and the program with the other cancer centers currently has hundreds of patients enrolled.

Finally, we have set the date for a blood and bone marrow registry drive for Tuesday, September 26  Saint Michael’s Parish Center in North Andover.  During her two years of treatment, Maureen received hundreds of units of blood products (mainly platelets and also red blood cells) and she also received one stem cell infusion from a donor in Germany as well as two lymphocyte infusions.   We are working with Saint Michael Parish, the American Red Cross and Be the Match.  The drive will run from 2 until 7 pm.  Volunteers are needed.  And I’d especially like to get some volunteers who are medical professionals.

Finally, I’d like to thank the Guggenbergers, Panos’, Poleretzky’s and Turks, who hosted a beautiful BBQ for my 40^th birthday (some people will tell you it’s my 60^th, but I’m told that 60 is the new 40 J!  Fortunately, the weather was great.  It was a really wonderful evening that I will always remember.  We even had an accordion player playing “Happy Birthday”!  There was a roast as well, and I hope that no one believes some of the less flattering stories you might have heard of my past!

Thank you all.

Jim

Maureen's headstone in place

Yesterday Maureen's headstone was put in place at Ridgewood Cemetery in North Andover.  Some photos are below. The kids and I are doing well.  Joe is busy with school and is also having a great track season at Bowdoin and he will be going to South Korea in the fall for a semester abroad.  Emma is doing extremely well at school and is doing throwing events on the track team.  We also hope to get together in the coming weeks with some of the staff that cared for Maureen at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  Our thanks and love to you all.

Jim

Today Maureen's remains were buried at Ridgewood Cemetery in North Andover, MA.  We were joined by family and a handful of close friends.  The headstone will be in place in a few weeks.  I will take a photo of it once in place and post it on the blog so that if some of you want to visit you will know what to look for.

I want to thank everyone who has supported us over these past few years and wished us well.  We can all take some solace that Maureen is with her beloved sister Eileen and her father Ed.  I also want to thank those of you that have generously contributed to the tribute fund that I established in Maureen's memory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  100% of the funds will go toward research that Dr. Avigan and his staff are working on that we hope will improve the lives of future leukemia patients.

Thank you,

Jim Staudt