Living the Experiment of Life

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson would smile at and applaud the efforts of the students and the teachers at the Von E. Mauger School, which  is located right up the block from Joe, the Missus, and me in Middlesex.  So close in fact that Sam and I run past it on a regular basis and, this past Sunday morning when my balky knee was too balky to run, ignored the signage declaring "No Pets on School Property" by taking a walk all over its grounds.  

Frank Martelli, 14, is a student at Mauger.  Frank's little brother, Izzy Qazi, is just eight years old.  Izzy is battling a rare form of pediatric cancer, which is known as Stage 4 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.  It is a soft-tissue cancer, of which you can read more written by people (unlike me) who know of which they write, by clicking this link. 

Izzy was diagnosed in February.  As you might imagine, this has not been the best year ever for Izzy, Frank, or their mom, Kimberlee Shamaa, who is raising six kids.  Izzy is in the midst of a fifty-four-week chemotherapy treatment plan.  Frank, wanting to do whatever he can to try to lessen the strain on his family, enlisted the help of his fellow Mauger students and teachers.  Mauger has a club, appropriately named the DoSomething Club, and its coordinator, Elizabeth DeMargo, said that Frank came to the Club's first meeting with a request, "Can we do something for my brother?" 

As it turns out, they could.  And they did. 

To date, the kids at Mauger have raised more than $5,000 to help Izzy's family with their medical bills.  In addition, the teachers and staff at Mauger have donated Christmas gifts for Frank, Izzy, and their four siblings.  

It is a remarkable story, and I invite you to read it and to watch the video embedded within it, which you can find here.  A reminder, perhaps, of the fact that there are more things inherent in all of us that bind us than there are that separate us.  A reminder, perhaps, as well of the fact that listening to our better angels has never served us poorly.  

A reminder, perhaps, also of the truism that doing something for someone else, no matter how large or small that something might be, is far better than doing nothing.  

-AK