“Donate Life” highlighted at Central Mountain Middle School basketball
MILL HALL, PA – The Williamsport Junior High girls’ basketball teams came to the Central Mountain Middle School gym for a game with their Lady Wildcat counterparts Tuesday night, but the evening was more than just sports as the Central Mountain teams and coaches welcomed a visiting Lady Millionaire player in need of a kidney transplant.
The Central Mountain team, through the efforts of Coach Tim Keohane, welcomed Williamsport and Lady Millionaire eighth grade player Madeline Fausnaught. The daughter of Tim and Karen Fausnaught, Madeline has been dealing with a deteriorating kidney issue since the age of 7. She is now 13 and since April of this year has been on a kidney transplant list, so far without success.
Coach Keohane, part of the Keohane/Wise donor family, said the Tuesday program was to recognize the current campaign of the Fausnaught family to find her a kidney donor. The school staged its organ donation awareness night, part of what the coach called “a special night for this opponent and her family.”
Fausnaught’s father Tim addressed those in attendance and thanked Central Mountain for its support. The Fausnaught parents said their daughter is involved in track and basketball while making the 8th grade honor roll. Mrs. Fausnaught told The Record their daughter’s kidney function is at 18 percent as she deals with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). They said they are in need of a kidney donor, blood type 0.
A special display for prospective donors was set up in the gym lobby, the organ donor table containing information on “how you can save lives.” Spectators were asked to “Talk to your family about organ donation. Talk to your family about donating life. You have the power to donate life. Be an organ and tissue donor.”
On this night, it was more than athletic contests; it was about one community helping a member in need from another community; everybody was a winner.
