Chatham, New Jersey Teens Hold Basketball Tournament to Help Families Enduring Childhood Cancer 

On Saturday, August 19th, a group of Chatham, New Jersey, adolescents, headed up by Chatham High School basketball player Mark Pasacreta, organized the Chatham B+ Club basketball event at Garden Avenue Park (off of Main Street) on a beautiful sun-kissed day.

Chatham B+ Club helps fundraise as part of the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, an IRS-certified 501(c)3 organization in Delaware that helps support families with a child fighting cancer through fundraising events such as the hoops event held on Saturday.

McDonough, the original B+ Hero, was a 14-year-old athlete and ‘A’ student from Wilmington, Delaware. On January 27, 2007, he helped lead his team to victory in a Pennsylvania state championship soccer tournament.

But within 48 hours, cardiac arrest had stricken him. The doctors had diagnosed McDonough with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow and has a five-year survival rate of 65 to 70 percent for children, according to cancer.org. 

But the prognosis for McDonough was grim. In fact, doctors didn’t expect him to make it through the night. Outstandingly, he fought for 167 days before passing away on July 14, 2007.

B+, McDonogh’s bold type and saying on his hospital door, became the ideal message to “Be Positive.” It has become a rallying cry that has spread and inspired countless people in the process, like Pasacreta, to take action for change.

It was an article Pasacreta’s mother gave him to read that set the wheels in motion and motivated him to do something to help people fighting AML and other types of cancer.

“As I was reading through the article, his story was he was helping his team win the soccer championship,” Pasacreta recollected. “And the night after, he was diagnosed with AML Leukemia. That whole idea sort of inspired me, and I would also say, it scared me a little bit. I could win a massive basketball championship, and tomorrow night, never play basketball again.

“It was that realization that made me want to put as much hope into the Chatham community,” he added. “To have your life threatened with a disease made me want to do something for it through the sport we cherish so much.”

Carlie Gallagher, an Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation program manager in the New York City office, accompanied B+ Hero Charlotte, a four-year-old child fighting cancer, and her mom to the event. Charlotte’s mother spoke about what amazing things the foundation has done for her and her child during their trying times.

Gallagher, who provides moral support to event organizers, said the foundation helps families pay bills while they are away from work as they tend to their sick child during their treatments.

“The foundation is now the largest provider of financial assistance in the entire country,” Gallagher said. “So, whether you live in California, New Jersey, Texas, wherever you are, and your family needs help financially, we’re the local charity for that state, for wherever it is across the country.

Winning teams included 3 Big Guys in the Middle School boy’s division, Hoops, I Did it Again in the Middle School Girls Division, The Crossover Queens in the girl’s High School division and OP 3 in the Boy’s High School division.

Chatham B+ Club, with the assistance of Chatham High School basketball stars Ella Kreuzer and Mia Semioli, Chatham High School soccer standout Paige Droner, and Chatham High School Boys’ soccer player Esteban Izurieta, were instrumental in helping to raise funds, referee games and organize other activities, among other teens.

Monetary donations were collected, B+ Tee shirts and concessions were sold, as well as tickets for its raffle, which included goods donated by local businesses. All the monies go back to the organization so it can continue to do the wonderful work for families in need.

For more information on Chatham Be Positive Club and The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, plus donate, click on the above respective links.

— Jerry Del Priore