Students raise funds for young girl with cancer

Ocean Township High School students raised funds to help pay the medical bills of Mya Terry, 5, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in October.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP - When a group of students at Ocean Township High School learned that a five-year-old in the community was battling cancer, they decided to help the young girl and her family.

The students hosted a fundraiser at a Lakewood BlueClaws baseball game last month to benefit Mya Terry, a township resident diagnosed with stage three non-Hodgkins lymphoblastic lymphoma, T-3 cell.

Some 18 high school students volunteered at concession stands throughout the game and raised $675 to help with Mya's medical bills.

"I was overwhelmed by the support from the high school," Mya's mother, Kelly Terry, said. "I didn't even know that this was in the works.

"I thought it was amazing," she said, adding, "This is something I wasn't even personally involved in."

Mya's mother said that although the money was raised for her daughter, she would like to see the money support another cause to help others in need.

She said that she is leaning toward donating the funds to the Francis Foundation, a Monmouth County charity similar to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

"It's kind of like a pay-it-forward thing," Terry said.

Mya, a student at the Ocean Township Elementary School, was diagnosed with lymphoma in October. Since the diagnosis, Mya was forced to stop attending school.

On June 3, after eight months of chemotherapy treatments, Mya was declared healthy enough to return to school. She is planning to walk with her kindergarten class in a graduation ceremony today.

Despite her nearly yearlong absence from class, Mya was always in the thoughts of the teachers and staff at the Ocean Township Elementary School.

Ocean Township Elementary School Principal Doreen Ryan contacted Ocean Township High School science teacher Donna Sanclementi and told her about Mya.

Sanclementi heads the high school's Key Club, an organization where students volunteer to spend time at various community service events throughout Monmouth County.

Sanclementi asked the 25 members of the Key Club if they would like to participate in a fundraiser to benefit Mya, and her family and the Lakewood Blue- Claws fundraiser was put into action.

"I thought it was amazing," Ryan said. "I thought it was the ultimate in community service to be able to help a child.

"To be able to help someone like that is true community service," Ryan added.

Ryan said that when the high school students learned that Mya was battling cancer, they took a real interest in helping to make a difference for the young girl and her family.

"They were really intrigued by Mya," Ryan said.

The students who participated in the fundraiser were awarded certificates for their efforts at a May Board of Education meeting.

"I thought it was a very, very gallant and generous gesture that these students put in a day like that to help one of their fellow students," Ocean Township Superintendent of Schools Thomas Pagano said.

"They may be in high school but this kindergarten student is still a fellow student," he said. "Not only did the fundraiser benefit this child who is stricken, but it is also a tremendous experience for those students who donated their time.

"That type of compassion and concern for someone is probably something we could use a lot more of," Pagano added.

Mya has been in remission since November and will receive maintenance chemotherapy treatments for another 18 months to eliminate any cancerous cells that may still be active in her bloodstream, her mother explained.

Her treatments include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps and countless blood tests, her mother said.