Barre Lodge recently hosted DREWSTRONG, a dinner, dance and silent auction to benefit Drew Bernier, 5 year old son of new member Marie and Josh Bernier.
Up until February, Drew was a very healthy, happy and active five year old boy. It started with a rash on Drew’s body that Marie and Josh wanted to get checked out before they brought his new baby sister Sophia home. After countless tests, a cytogenetic test revealed that Drew was missing one of his number 7 chromosomes. Because of this, Drew was at a very high, predisposed risk of developing Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a fast spreading leukemia which is rarely found in children. He needed to have a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible so he did not get full-fledged leukemia.
Drew and his family headed to Boston Children’s Hospital in April and Drew started chemotherapy to kill his current immune system and bone marrow. Thanks to a very generous bone marrow donor, Drew received his bone marrow transplant on May 8th. Drew will have to stay in the hospital for 4 to 6 weeks post-transplant to make sure his body does not reject his new bone marrow. After this, the entire Bernier family will stay at the Ronald McDonald house and go to daily doctor appointments for 4 to 6 weeks. If all of this goes as planned, the Bernier’s will then be able to come back to Vermont. For 6 to 9 months following, only family members can have contact with Drew.
DREWSTRONG raised over $17,000 to help ease the financial burdens associated with loss of Marie and Josh’s income, insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays, transportation to and from Boston, lodging, post-transplant follow up care, and prescriptions. Cash donations can be sent to Granite Hills Credit Union, Attention: Drew Bernier Fund.
Special thanks to Wendy Gillander for soliciting all of the food donations from area businesses, Kasey Miller for donating his DJ services, Jared Hart for emceeing the event, Tracey Wright for organizing the silent auction items and countless others who made this event such a success. Barre Elks are proud to be a small part of such an amazing, thoughtful, generous and fun community.
Photo: Drew Bernier holding his DREWSTRONG poster signed by all of the guests at the DREWSTRONG event.
