Oct. 10, 2007

New York, NY - The Wagner College women's swimming team raised over $1,000 for the Light the Night Walk, an event organized each year to raise money that supports research to find better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. This event is personal to the Wagner Athletic community as the younger brother of junior water polo/swimmer Alex Tomlinson is a recent leukemia survivor.

Joey Tomlinson was only nine years old when he was diagnosed in March 2001. One year later he had a relapse in his central nervous system, putting him in a very grave condition. The Thomlinsons faced the choice of having Joey come home and be as comfortable as possible or to continue the fight and try a brutally invasive experimental treatment. They chose to fight the good fight.

In April 2002, Joey began a procedure called a peripheral blood stem cell transplant at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia (CHOP). This treatment is similar to a bone marrow transplant only with donor stem cells. Neither Alex nor her other brother Bobby were matches, so the family reached out and found a miracle match more than 3,000 miles away from a woman who honorably wishes to be remained nameless.

"We had the pleasure of meeting her twice," said Barabara Tomlinson, Joey's mother. "She is a wonderful and kind lady who is a hero to our family."

From that point forward, the Tomlinsons took things one day at a time. With Brenda spending most of her time with Joey and their father, Bob, working as much as he could to financially support the family, the Tomlinsons somehow managed to keep their family together for the next five years.

This past September, they received the good news they never thought they would hear. After an evaluation of how Joey's body reacted to the treatment, the doctors at CHOP considered him fully-cured.

"Our lives revolved around his daily battle against the disease," remarked Bob Tomlinson, Joey's father. "For all of us, his experience validated that the number one priority in our lives should be to make the most of the opportunities we have to spend with our loved ones."

The Light the Night Walk is an annual event that helps children like Joey overcome their battle with this dreaded disease. Throughout the two-plus mile walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, balloons swarmed the sky; red balloons held by supporters, survivors held white balloons while those walking in the memory of someone lost held gold balloons.

The Tomlinsons were joined by the Wagner swimming team, members of the water polo team, many of Alex's nursing classmates, family and friends. Most importantly, they were able to have the man of the hour walk by their side as he let a white balloon dangle from his wrist into the night sky.

"It really was amazing to see my brother hold a white survivor balloon," said Alex. "When he was really sick, it was hard to imagine the day when he would even be considered a survivor."

To learn more about the Light the Night Walk or how you can support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit www.lightthenight.org.