At Villanova, a Duty to Victory, and to Helping Others
Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:08 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/sport ... .html?_r=1VILLANOVA, Pa. — Matt Szczur said he just did what anyone who wanted to play for Andy Talley, the Villanova football coach, would do. Szczur registered for the National Marrow Donor Program, swabbing his cheek for a tissue sample in the spring.
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Villanova University
Matt Szczur, who has become an offensive focal point for second-seeded Villanova, was one of the players to register for the National Marrow Donor Program.
“It’s more of a requirement than him asking us,” said Szczur, a junior wide receiver from Erma, N.J.
Szczur, whose last name sounds like Caesar, has become an offensive focal point for second-seeded Villanova (11-1), which is to play a second-round Football Championship Subdivision playoff game Saturday at home against New Hampshire (10-2).
But he has also gained a lot of attention in a different way. It was determined in September that he was a match for a 13-month-old girl who has juvenile leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant.
So, early next month, Szczur will provide marrow to her, first taking medication for a week that will increase blood-forming cells (and cause nausea, aching bones and swelling of the spleen), then donate stem cells in a procedure that takes four to six hours.
“One of my best friends has leukemia,” Szczur said, referring to a friend from high school who has since gone into remission. “I’d do anything to help her out.”
When Szczur learned he was a 1-in-60,000 match, he was told that he might undergo the procedure near the end of the season, perhaps during the playoffs. Because his spleen would be enlarged, he could not play football. He was fine with that.
“He’s not thrilled to death with the attention,” said his father, Mark, a carpenter, “but it’s like I told him: ‘You could get 1,000, 2,000, thousands of people to sign up for this. You got the potential of saving someone’s life — and not know anything about it.’ ”
Szczur is the third donor match since Talley, who has coached at Villanova since the program was resurrected in 1985, started having his players tested in 1992. He was listening to a radio program in which the guest said bone-marrow donors were badly needed.
“I thought, we have 90 kids on the team, so we can get those people to test,” Talley said this week, “and we can get other people to test, too.”
Very proud to be a part of this program as I have said.... glad it is getting NYTimes exposure now too. Hopefully, Coach T's goal of every college football program in America will be reached. This is a great cause.
