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T-shirt sales to benefit high school leukemia patient
By BOB McCLURE
| Article published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 |
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LARGO – Shortly after Emily Lester, 18, suffered a relapse in her battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January, she was transferred to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis.
She is now undergoing extensive chemotherapy treatment for the disease while awaiting a second bone marrow transplant.
To help offset the expense, Sardo, who operates Sardo’s Pizza and Pasta, 10839 Ulmerton Road in Largo, is selling pink T-shirts with Lester’s photo and the photo of his late sister, Stella Sardo-Faicco, who died of breast cancer April 13 at age 37.
“I just wanted to do something nice for her (Lester) and get some type of closure,” said Sardo.
Lester and Sardo are longtime acquaintances.
Lester started eating pizza at his restaurant when she was 12 and was later introduced to Stella via e-mail. The two mentored one another through the tough times they both faced.
“They were e-mail buddies,” said Sardo. “Whenever Emily had a problem she could talk to my sister about it.”
Through Lester, Sardo and his wife Angela have met her family and provided as much support as possible throughout the ordeal.
He recently shipped a container of his pizza sauce to Lester at St. Jude’s.
“It’s all she can eat,” said Sardo. “It’s the only sauce her stomach can tolerate.”
“He’s really been great,” said Emily’s mother, Tricia Lester. “I am honored that he has chosen to do this. Like Stella, Emily has fought this fight way too long – going on seven years now and she is only 18.”
Lester’s battle with cancer began three days after her 12th birthday in 2001 when she was diagnosed with leukemia. Three years of successful chemotherapy followed but in November 2005 she relapsed. A bone marrow transplant from her younger sister Catherine followed at St. Jude’s.
Then, seven weeks ago, it was discovered she had again relapsed and will need another expensive bone marrow transplant.
Lester, a senior at Seminole High School, was one of five Barnes Scholarship recipients recently from the St. Petersburg Times. She is fifth in her graduation class at Seminole High School and has been accepted at Duke University.
A bone marrow registry drive for Lester is set for Friday, March 14, noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday, March 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Jim and Heather Gills YMCA, 3200 First Ave. S., St. Petersburg. Registrants must be between the ages of 18 and 60 and in good health. For details, call 421-3436.
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Article published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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