Oct 8 09
This week, cancer took the lives of two special people here in our community.
Jack Langseder went to Heaven on Tuesday following a battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma, the same cruel cancer that our friend Savannah Pauley battled. Jack was 13 years old. Back in June, 2007, a really neat kid named Brooke Saunders contacted us about a swim-a-thon that she was organizing to raise money for a new program at A.I. duPont Hospital called “Beads of Courage”. Brooke had decided to do this fundraiser in honor of her friend, Jack Langseder, and her new friend that she hadn’t met yet, Andrew McDonough. I felt like our boys were forever connected. Brooke was successful in raising nearly $3,000 and the “Beads of Courage” program was started at AI. The programs awards the patient a different color bead for each procedure — ie. chemo, bone marrow aspirate, etc. Andrew never received his string of beads because the program started after we left the hospital. This was the one thing Ali wanted for her birthday this year. She felt that Andrew deserved them - which he did- and he should get them. Thanks to the tremendous cooperation of Mary Newman and Mary Sawin at AI, we presented Ali with Andrew’s hundreds of beads on her birthday, October 6th…the same day that Jack Langseder went to Heaven. Our boys are forever connected and I know that Andrew is showing Jack around. Our deepest condolences go out to Jack’s family and friends and we are humbled and honored that the Langseder family has chosen that memorial donations in Jack’s name go to The B+ Foundation.
http://miva.delawareonline.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?obits.mv+87081
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Ali wanted to go to Philly for her birthday dinner on Tuesday night, so we found a nice little Italian restaurant. Knowing that I was planning on visiting a friend at Christiana Hospital the next day, I decided to buy him a cannoli. Being that he is a proud Italian from North Jersey, I thought it would put a smile on his face. I went to Christiana Hospital on Wed to visit him, but they weren’t allowing visitors upstairs. I really wanted to talk to him. I didn’t get the chance. About 8 hours later, he went to Heaven following a battle with cancer. His name is Michael Saltarelli and he was our Bishop in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. Bishop Saltarelli and then-Msgr. Barres visited Andrew several times in the hospital. He told me how honored he was to visit Andrew, how inspired he was by Andrew’s faith, strength, and character, and how he often used Andrew as an example in his discussions with others. I really enjoyed our occasional lunches, the last one coming about 2 months or so ago. The cancer was slowing him down but his attitude was still the same. He was a good man!
Jack and Michael are in Heaven now…
God bless their families and friends.
B+
Ali’s & Andrew’s Dad
www.BePositive.org