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S E R V I N G TAY L OR , OL D F OR G E , MOOSIC & SURROUNDING AREAS TRIBOROBANNER.COM | MARCH 28, 2019
The Harlem Wizards basketball team will take on faculty members from an area school | PAGE 4
A local high school band was among the marchers in Scranton’s St. Patrick parade | PAGE 6
A tribute from the heart Old Forge teen will be guest of honor at upcoming ball. By Josh McAuliffe Special to The Triboro Banner Though he’s only 17, Justin McDonnell has already overcome a lifetime’s worth of obstacles, along the way inspiring his family, his teachers and the community at large. This weekend, the Old Forge JuniorSenior High School special-needs student will be formally honored for his heart — literally and figuratively. Justin will be among the guests of honor at the American Heart Association’s annual Northeast PA Heart Ball, which will be held Saturday at 6 p.m. at The Room at 900 in Forty Fort. Justin was nominated for the honor by Dr. Christopher Derby, his heart surgeon at Geisinger Danville. “It’s going to be a great night,” said Justin’s mom, Anne McDonnell, noting Justin will be donning a tuxedo for the black-tie event. Justin’s journey to the event is an inspirational one. Born with Down syndrome, Justin was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 3. He successfully battled the cancer, but a few years ago he started to mysteriously put on weight and become increasingly lethargic. In the spring of 2016, his scrotum became enlarged, leading his pediatrician, John Marx, M.D., to recommend
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sending him to Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville. There, doctors discovered Justin’s weight gain was the result of fluid coming out of his veins and arteries, which in turn had weakened his heart valves. In June 2016, he underwent double heart valve replacement surgery and several additional procedures. “He went through quite a bit,” said Justin’s dad, Rob McDonnell. “But after that, he got back to the way he used to be. We said, ‘We got our Justin back.’ ” As a sign of his good health, Justin’s cardiologist visits were recently changed from every six months to once a year. “As a mom, I still worry. I check on him to see if he’s still breathing at night,” Anne McDonnell said. “He’s been doing very well, and we thank God every day. He’s an amazing kid.” Justin has difficulty speaking but is otherwise high functioning. He shaves and showers himself, and is great with directions. He plays in baseball and soccer leagues, just got his yellow belt in karate and, every Wednesday, he can found at a dance class for special-needs kids at the Dunmore YMCA. “We try to do anything possible for him,” said Anne McDonnell, noting her 15-year-old daughter, Meghan, has been a great source of support. The McDonnells are also thrilled with the support Justin gets from the teachers, administrators and support staff at Old Forge. Thanks to the dis-
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Justin McDonnell has overcome many health issues and is now an Old Forge student. trict’s partnership with Community Options, Inc., he’s now working a few hours a week at Walgreens and Redner’s Market. Justin’s life skills teacher, Chelsea Colarusso, called him “one of the most resilient and inspiring individuals I know.” “He comes to school demonstrating everyday acts of independence. He’s always eager to learn and becomes overjoyed when he learns something new.”
she said. “I am the luckiest teacher in the world to have the opportunity to work with him.” Perhaps more than anything, Justin’s perseverance through his myriad of struggles has taught the McDonnells not to take life for granted. “We know people are going through worse than we are,” Rob McDonnell said. “But when you go through things like that, you learn not to sweat the little things.”