“To live like Andrew” is a way of life that can be found across Villanova’s campus, and as students count down the final days to the NOVAdance marathon on Saturday, March 29, the motto feels more true than ever.
Andrew McDonough was a star soccer player, an “A” student, and a beloved son and brother from Wilmington, Delaware.
Joe McDonough, Andrew’s father and the founder of the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, a foundation that fundraises for pediatric cancer and supports B+ Heroes and their families, spoke with The Villanovan to share his son’s story.
“This foundation was born out of the tragedy of my son’s passing,” McDonough said. “On a Saturday he had helped his travel soccer team win a Pennsylvania state championship, and two days later we were at our children’s hospital in Wilmington, and we’re told that Andrew has leukemia, septic shock and then cardiac arrest.”
While many who learn of a cancer diagnosis ultimately leave the hospital for some time during treatment, Andrew never did and spent 167 days in the Nemours Children’s Hospital before his passing. During this time, his family showered him with love and support, and they taped a picture of Andrew to his hospital bed as a reminder to the hospital staff of who they were fighting to save and bring home.
Two weeks prior to this unexpected hospital stay, McDonough shared that Andrew had inquired about his blood type, which was B-positive. During these horrific circumstances, the blood type became a way of life, to “Be Positive.” His sister, during his time in the hospital, took to creating a sign for the hospital door. The message? “Do not come in this room unless you are going to be positive!”
“It was just the way my boy lived,” McDonough said. “If you knew him for five minutes, you would have said he was your best friend.”
McDonough began his work on the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation in honor of his son. Seventeen years later, the foundation is the largest provider of financial assistance to families of kids with cancer in the United States and also a powerhouse of a funder of research globally. To live like Andrew is to live like your best, and to love everyone, a staple sentiment of the Foundation today.
McDonough shared a story of just what it means to live like Andrew. When he had dropped off his son at his friend’s house to play basketball, Andrew ran back to the car to kiss his father on the cheek to thank him and tell him he loved him.
“At that fork in the road, he stopped and ranked the risk of his friends saying something,” McDonough said. “I drove home that day from Chadds Ford Pennsylvania to Wilmington Delaware just beaming with a smile.”
Andrew remained positive in the face of tremendous adversity. McDonough shared that to live like Andrew was especially important when we encounter these forks in the road, big or small.
“We have an opportunity every day to make someone’s life a little bit better.” McDonough said. “Andrew made a difference in a lot of people’s lives.”
McDonough went on to describe the tremendous effort for the foundation by the University students, highlighting year-long efforts along with the day-of, specifically. Whether it is meeting heroes and families, canning for donations or the committee’s dedication in their weekly meetings, he applauded the students’ hard work for the foundation that means so much to the campus.
“Really, it is a joy to work with the students at Villanova. They just get it,” McDonough said. “They’re kind and compassionate, and to see the way they rally for our kids with cancer, those they get the chance to meet in Jake Nevin when they run through the big tunnel to the kids that they help that they’ll never meet.”
As students approach the day of, a culmination of their yearlong efforts into one 12-hour long dance marathon celebration, all are thinking of Andrew and each B+ Hero.
“Here’s a part of our society that really needs help, give a voice to the voiceless and [not] to be too philosophical, but I think societies are judged in history, how they treated their most vulnerable,” McDonough said. “Their elderly, their disabled, their children and their children with cancer, and I think it’s really important as a society that we give these innocent kids a chance to grow up, and I stress the word innocent because not one of these children that are diagnosed today, the 46 kids diagnosed [everyday], not one did anything wrong. purely innocent children, like my son Andrew.”
