After word got out that a young Middle Village boy needed a bone marrow transplant, thousands of local residents, and people from elsewhere in New York, came out and got their cheek swabbed in hopes of becoming a donor.
About 1,900 people went into the registry at the bone marrow drive on Saturday, Feb. 18 at Our Lady of Hope Catholic School, an event aimed at helping Colin Flood, the 6-year-old Middle Village resident who has been battling acute lymphocytic leukemia since Christmas Eve, find a bone marrow donor.
Kevin Flood, Colin’s father, said that he was elated about the amount of people who came out to the drive to help Colin.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Kevin said. “This is a lot more than I could have hoped for.”
He also said that he saw many people at the drive that he hasn’t seen in years, including some he hasn’t talked to since elementary school.
The Flood family has been going through a difficult time since a doctor diagnosed Colin with leukemia almost two months ago.
While Kevin and Colin’s mother, Jennifer, have had to deal with the brunt of the news about Colin, his disease has had a trickle-down effect throughout the entire family.
According to Vinny Flood, Colin’s uncle and also a Middle Village resident, the whole family was devastated when they learned about what was going on with Colin. He said that each one of his aunts and uncles are taking it personally and are doing whatever they can to help Kevin and Jennifer get through this trying time.
The Flood family already has a history of overcoming the odds.
On 9/11, Vinny was on the 103rd floor of Tower 2 in the World Trade Center, which was where he worked at the time, when the planes crashed into both towers. He managed to escape the tower before it collapsed.
He said that he was one of the fortunate people to have survived that tragic day and that he hopes that some of the good fortune he had then comes Colin’s way as well.
“I’m hoping my nephew will be as lucky as I was,” Vinny said.
As for the donors, their goal is to help Colin, or someone else in need of a transplant, find the one person that can give bone marrow to the young boy.
Shelia Haney made the car trip from the Bronx to get herself in the bone marrow registry. Haney heard about the event in an email 
from a friend of the Flood family.
She said she wanted to do her part in getting in the registry and possibly be a donor for someone that needs a transplant, including Colin. She also has a friend who has the same disease.
Haney was excited to see the amount of people who appeared at the Catholic school gym for the bone marrow drive.
“As busy as people are, people still care,” Haney said. “If nothing else, it should help the Flood family’s spirits.”
Frank Kotnick, a Glendale resident, got his cheek swabbed partly because he hopes people would lend a helping hand if he was in the Flood family’s shoes.
“If my son was that sick, I would want someone to help us too,” said Kotnick, who runs the civilian patrol at the 104th Precinct, which includes Middle Village as part of its patrol area.
He also had no worries about the procedure one would have to go through if they were to be a bone marrow match.
According to DKMS’ website, the organization that ran the bone marrow drive, there are two different ways of extracting bone marrow. One way is collecting stem cells through the blood stream. In this procedure, the donor’s blood is taken from a needle and into a machine that separates the stem cells. The rest of the blood goes back to the donor through the other arm. The second
procedure is taking bone marrow cells through the backside of the pelvic bone, in the hip area. Using a special syringe, the cell is taken during a surgical procedure. The person receives anesthesia before the surgery so that he or she does not experience pain, according to the website.
Kotnick said that he had no problem going through either procedure if he was found to be a match.
“Whatever I got to do to save a child,” Kotnick said. “It’s easier than being the head of the civilian patrol,” he joked.
As for the Flood family, the next step for Colin is to continue to get chemotherapy and wait to see if someone is a match for a transplant.
According to Kevin, Colin’s leukemia has not gone into remission yet. He said that doctors usually like the patient to go into remission after the first round of chemo and Colin is on his third chemo cycle.
For more information on becoming a bone marrow donor, visit www.getswabbed.org.
By Luis Gronda
Forum Newsgroup Photos by Luis Gronda
