Classical students step up for fellow classmates

LYNN – Classical High School students rallied to help two of their own when they raised $1,020 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients drive.”This year I have two students with leukemia, one in remission and one in treatment,” said LCHS Nurse June Blake.Jose Marin and Lorenzo Tejada look every bit like typical high school seniors, but they aren’t and it frustrates them.”You feel weird in front of your friends. They’re overprotective, asking you every five minutes if you’re OK,” said Marin, who has been in remission for just over one year. “You feel like you’ve been robbed in a way.”Marin was just 16 when he became sick. It was the time when all his friends were getting their driver’s licenses, but for Marin that was pushed aside.Marin said he was used to being independent and liked to take long walks. He would come home from school, do his homework, clean, cook for himself and hike when he had time, but once he got sick, he couldn’t do any of that anymore.”My mom had to take care of me and I didn’t like it,” he said. “I wasn’t used to it.”For Tejada, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment, it’s been doubly difficult because his mother is back in the Dominican Republic.”It makes me feel sad,” he said. “I have a bunch of family and friends here, but it’s not my mom, it’s not the same.”Both Tejada and Marin said the nurses where they are treated, Massachusetts General Hospital and Children’s Hospital, respectively, have become like second families.”I know all the nurses on the sixth floor,” Marin said. “They know me, they ask me how I’m feeling, they take care of me.”Tejada said the toughest part of being sick thus far is having to give up basketball. He also said losing his hair, which has since grown back, was depressing.For Marin, watching his friends graduate while he spent most of the year in the hospital was tough.”I can’t wait to get out,” he said referring to high school, and smiling.Marin plans to head to UMass Dartmouth in September where he wants to major in pre-medical studies.”I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was little,” he said. “I think I’ll be a pediatrician, maybe later pediatric oncology.”He said he also plans to learn several languages to go with his practice. Both he and Tejada faced a secondary dilemma when they got sick, having to translate for parents who don’t know the language.”I don’t want other families to have to go through that,” he said. “Even with a translator it’s hard. I want to be able to speak with them.”When asked what they thought of their classmates’ efforts to help raise funds and awareness regarding leukemia, both Marin and Tejada called it “pretty cool.”Blake has been running the fundraiser for about three years.”The first year we raised $300, the second year $500,” she said. “This year we set a goal of $1,500. We didn’t meet it, but I’m very happy with what we did.”While she headed up the drive, Blake said it was truly a group effort. Students from the COACH program, the school’s autism program, put together the collection boxes, which Blake said were surprisingly difficult to construct. Members of the Key Club, a community service organization, distributed and collected the boxes.Despite landing short of the set goal, Blake said she was impressed with a number of students who dug quite deep to donate.Cousins Meegan Robertson and Tira Rock asked family members to donate loose change and they came through in a big way.”Our family collects huge jars of change,” Robertson said. “And they donated it all.”Lillian Bellows, 16, said she had a cousin who died of leukemia at age 10. She donated $50 to the cause because she doesn’t want to see anyone suffer like her cousin did.Mark Munoz said it simply makes sense to help someone whenever you can.”We’re all equal,” he said. “What if the money I give could pay for someone to have chemo?”While having leukemia is a definite downer, Marin said it hasn’t all been bad.At first he shunned the idea of meeting other kids who were s