Starting on February 21, The Forum ran an article in response to having heard the story of Macalister Davison; a one-year-old identical twin, suffering from a deadly pediatric cancer, neruoblastoma. He was quickly renamed Little Mac by the newspaper staff– the story was heartbreaking, the prognosis grim.
We ran the piece to ask people to help the family—in addition to bearing the devastating blow of dealing of the illness, they were overwhelmed by ever mounting financial obligations.
Second grader John Mullaly , of the Ave Maria Catholic Academy, hold s up the issue of The Forum where he first saw Little Mac's picture and knew he had to do something to help.
Right after the issue came out, 7-year-old John Mullaly, a second grader at the Ave Maria Catholic Academy in Howard Beach, was thumbing through The Forum when he came upon the page—he was drawn to the picture of the little boy with the giant smile. He asked his mom to read him the story. “I just knew it was going to be very sad,” Theresa Mullaly said, “and I didn’t really want to read it to him.” But her son continued to press her and finally, she agreed. “Before I even put the paper down, he was on his way upstairs to get all of his banks,” she said.
John quickly moved from not only giving his own money but figuring out how to get others to donate as well. “I knew I could ask my teachers, and Mr. Russo, our principal.” Then, he got the idea to ask the school if they could host a dress down day to raise money.
Dress down day is held at school to raise money for charitable causes and for other school related expenditures. Students who donate one dollar can trade in their uniforms for street clothes for the day.
Theresa Mullaly contacted the school’s principal, Mr. Anthony Russo, and he immediately jumped on board. Russo prepared a letter explaining the situation and sent it home to parents and students. On Thursday, March 7, dress down day for Little Mac was held at the Ave Maria Catholic Academy and the students and faculty raised a whopping $446 for Little Mac and his family.
“This was a really good opportunity to put our faith into action,” said Russo. “Easter is the perfect time for new life, new beginnings.” And although he had no idea how prophetic those words were, Russo was indeed making a prediction of sorts about life and new beginnings.
Following the last round of Little Mac’s treatments at Sloan Kettering, his family got the news they could only have dreamed of. Nothing short of a miracle, Little Mac will have to be monitored going forward, but his doctors were thrilled to report that he is going to pull through. He and his family have left the hospital and returned home to get on with their lives.
A note from the publisher: I would like to thank all of you who made a donation to help Little Mac and for all of your prayers; they obviously worked. But most of all I want to thank John Mullaly and to say how proud I am to have him as a reader of The Forum. As far as community journalism, it doesn’t get better than this.
By Patricia Adams
