The evening before Mark and Megan Hayward were scheduled to undergo surgery in Baltimore – so Mark, a well-known U.S. Small Business Administration official, could donate part of his liver to his three-year-old daughter – about 40 relatives, friends, colleagues and miscellaneous volunteers crammed into an East Providence business conference room.
Their mission: raise money to help the Haywards contend with overwhelming medical bills sure to arise from both procedures. Megan was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer called hepatoblastoma in June, after her mother, Nancy Hayward, discovered a lump on her belly.
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Trying to keep the atmosphere from getting too solemn, Carol Ann Hurley, president of Econotel Business Systems, Inc., used a kitchen-variety timer to make sure speakers didn’t get too chatty, since previous meetings had dragged out. She joked that she’d bring a squirt gun to the next meeting if participants didn’t adhere to the time limits.
Officials from Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, where Megan was diagnosed and received some treatment, say there are only about 100 cases of hepatoblastoma diagnosed around the world each year. It is rarer still that such cases result in liver transplant operations.
Megan and her family had to travel to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for the liver transplant, which took place on Thursday, Jan. 7. Both were doing well after surgery early last week, family members said.
Doctors at Hasbro and its affiliate, Rhode Island Hospital, do not perform liver transplant procedures, according to hospital spokeswoman Linda Shelton.
Mark Hayward, who is the SBA’s deputy district director for Rhode Island, underwent surgery around 7 a.m. that day to have a section of his liver removed. Megan walked into the operating room several hours later in preparation for a lengthy procedure.
Hurley rallied friends and other businesspeople around Providence to help raise funds for the Haywards and donated the meeting space, after learning in December about the costly and serious medical procedures the Haywards would have to contend with. For instance, Megan will have to be on medication that costs $15,000 a year, for the rest of her life, and her surgery alone is expected to cost $250,000, Hurley said.
It is estimated that insurance will cover about 75 percent of the costs.
By early January the resulting committee was finalizing plans for a ’50s theme dance on Feb. 13 at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston, which could hold up to 2,900 people and will feature entertainment by B-101 FM disc jockey Al Brock.
Mark’s marching orders, Hurley said, are to make sure attendees have fun.
The committee has also organized a team to research the legalities of setting up a bank account for charitable donations; set up a Web site and telephone hot line containing information about fundraising and Megan’s condition; and outlined several other ways to raise money over the course of the next year.
Mark’s boss, Joseph Loddo, the SBA’s district director in Rhode Island, has bargained with caterers to bring the price down so they can earn more money from ticket sales. Nancy’s sister, Tish Walsh, is learning how to produce and sell a pin, which bears a candle drawn by Megan’s 10-year-old cousin, Angela Silva. (The Haywards left an electric candle burning in Megan’s bedroom window before leaving for Baltimore.) Linda Brunini, owner of Two Hands, Inc., and a family friend, has agreed to design and print stationary so group members can send out thank-you notes to donors. Still others have agreed to sell dance tickets and decorate the hall.
Members of the group would like to raise about $500,000 to help defray costs that health insurance won’t cover and the expense of moving the Haywards from their Seekonk, Mass., home to Baltimore for up to three months, including the post-operative and treatment period.
Brenda Grube, is one of Mark’s many cousins and she and her mother, Alyce Kelley, were among the more than half-dozen family representatives at the Jan. 6 meeting.
“Megan’s been a trouper; you wouldn’t know that she had this terrible disease,” Grube said.
Donations can be sent to: The Megan Hayward Transplant Fund, P.O. Box 16113, Rumford, R.I. 02916. To get information about volunteering call (401) 435-4903 ext. 713.
