One May 2, 2013, Norte Dame Prep hosted a bone marrow drive in honor of Joe Gorman, my cousin, who was diagnosed with leukemia in the beginning of the 2008 school year. We were both in seventh grade then. I remember coming home from a sleepover when my dad told me that Joe was very sick. He had been diagnosed with leukemia. At the time, I didn’t really understand the gravity of the situation.
We had spent many days of the summer before on the beach together in Ocean City. I had seen him not too long ago. Joe was fine then. I didn’t understand how a normal twelve year old kid, like me, could suddenly get so sick. It just didn’t make sense. It still doesn’t make sense even after losing Joe a day after his fifteenth birthday in 2011.
So what does make sense? Well, obviously finding a cure for cancer. However, for those of us who are not scientists working in labs during the day, we can still do something to help. There may not be a cure yet, but joining the National Bone Marrow Registry is a step in the right direction to eliminate cancer.
The process of signing up may not seem like a big deal. Filling out some forms and rubbing a cotton swab on your cheek seem like small actions, but one thing that Joe taught me is that the simplest things make a difference.
The memories I remember most about Joe are the small, simple things he did for me. As cousins, we were a lot like siblings. Brothers and sisters don’t oftentimes go out of their way to say I love you or openly show they care. Despite that though, Joe did small things to let me know that he cared about me.
My earliest memory of Joe is from a time when we both went to the same preschool. Every day we would get dropped off by our moms, who are identical twins, around the same time in a car drop off line. Getting dropped off seemed like a normal school thing, but I dreaded walking to my classroom by myself. I hated getting out of the car even though there were teachers right there. I hated having to walk to my classroom which was the furthest classroom all the way down the hall. As a four year old, it was my daily nightmare. Joe knew that I hated walking to my classroom by myself, and so many times, he would take my hand and walk into school with me. We would walk by his classroom, which was one of the first ones by the door, and walk all the way down to my classroom where he would drop me off. Joe then would walk all the way back down to his classroom. I don’t know if Joe ever knew that the simple action of walking down the hall with me meant so much to me. Those simple steps made a difference.
Joe did other things too. We, oftentimes, played board games together. Both of us, being fiercely competitive people, wanted to win. Sometimes Joe would adjust the rules without my knowledge. For example, he would sometimes explain that landing on a “lose a turn” space didn’t actually apply to my situation. Little did I know that his adjustments were not actual rules. He would just make them up when decided that I was losing by too much. Maybe he just liked the extra challenge or maybe he just knew that I am sore loser, but whatever the reason was, he did it to help me. (I still to this day sometimes learn that certain rules in checkers that I think apply are not actual real rules. I then have to explain how my cousin who taught me checkers sometimes made up rules.)
I remember that on the first day the High School Musical CD came out, Joe went out and bought it for me because he was seeing me that day. I remember Joe used to watch “chick flick” movies with me just to spend time with me. I could make a long list of the simple things Joe did to show me that I was loved.
Small actions make a difference.
It may seem like rubbing your cheek is insignificant in the fight against cancer, but this small action could potentially make a big difference in someone’s life. Thank you to all of the seniors and adults who joined the National Bone Registry at Join for Joe.
