By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY When 16-year-old survivor Liam Terregrossa of Rocky Hill was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in the summer of 2011, Mary Penney wasted no time in banding together the greater Montgomery community to support Mr. Terregrossa and his family.
Communities of people united together to go above and beyond for Mr. Terregrossa and his family as he battled for his life at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for nearly half a year, at times on the brink of death.
”It’s truly a miracle he is alive he went through a lot,” said neighbor Martha Musto. “He was in the hospital for six months and there were times they weren’t expecting him to make it through the night.”
A longtime friend of the Terregrossas, Ms. Penney began by creating a personal website through CaringBridge, a free service provided by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that alerts friends and family on the latest information about a patient’s health care situation.
”This happened in the summer time when it’s harder for people to communicate,” said Ms. Penney, who did all the updates. “This webpage kept everyone up to date on how things were going.”
Teachers, friends, neighbors were able to log on to follow Mr. Terregrossa’s progress.
”I told people Liam was a Beatles fan and they would post Beatles quotes for him,” recalled Ms. Penney. “It was like a rally.”
Ms. Penney, Ms. Musto and close friend Dianna Dineen also sent out e-mails to people in the schools, explaining Mr. Terregrossa’s situation and requesting that everyone do what they could to support the family during this rough time.
They didn’t have to tell community members twice.
When Mr. Terregrossa was forced to join a waiting list for a bone marrow transplant, Montgomery High School, Ms. Musto, Ms. Penney and Montgomery High School nurse Pam Gizzi set up a bone marrow donor drive for the faculty. Ms. Gizzi was able to nab a grant enabling potential donors to only pay $50 instead of $100 to get tested.
”Mary and I went to the school and had a table set up at the nurse’s office,” said Ms. Musto. “We had a poster of Liam and encouraged students who walked by to sign it.”
They ended up getting nearly 500 signatures on the poster, which they along with friends, presented to Mr. Terregrossa at the hospital.
”All of his friends went down to the hospital and encouraged him they were incredible and had such spirit,” recalled Ms. Penney. “They had a ‘he’s going to win this’ attitude.”
Ms. Penney also spread the word about TakeThemAMeal.com, a web site for families in need where community members can sign up on a schedule to take a meal to the family. She said Christine Huntington, Mr. Terregrossa’s mother, still continues to receive an overflow of food.
When everyone learned that Mr. Terregrossa’s bone marrow transplant was successful and that he was returning home mid-December cancer free, they were overjoyed.
”That kid amazes me. He went from living 10 minutes to 10 minutes, to hour by hour to day by day it’s just a mind blower,” said Ms. Dineen. “He was not meant to go and he is not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Ms. Penney along with the community pondered the perfect welcome home gesture for Mr. Terregrossa. They finally decided to tie yellow ribbons on the trees up and down Mr. Terregrossa’s street as a subtle sign of celebration and recognition of his long awaited return.
”Yellow ribbons in the past have symbolized soldiers coming home from the war he won the fight, he survived and now he’s coming home,” said Ms. Dineen. “It’s time to thank God and celebrate.”For the greater Montgomery community, helping was only the natural thing to do for someone in need.
”When something devastating happens, as a human you ask what you can do to help it’s a natural human reaction,” said Ms. Dineen.
