Mary Finn School honors one of its own
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Gabi Bazikas, front, stands with (l to r) Mary Finn School nurse Dale Burgess, Randi O'Hara of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and teacher Alyson Stephens-Kenney during the presentation of a check - which is inside the box Gabi is holding - for the money raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Pennies for Patients Program. PHOTO/KEN POWERS

Southborough - Gabrielius "Gabi" Bazikas is the Mary Finn School's poster child for the Leukemia Society - literally. The 5-year-old was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) when he was 3-1/2. Gabi's cancer was in remission when he arrived at the school in November 2006, but the teachers, administrators and school nurse Dale Burgess were so taken with how unaffected he was by everything that had already happened to him at such a young age, they wanted to do something to help, if not Gabi, then another child in a similar position.

As a result, Burgess, Mary Finn Principal Mary Ryan and Gabi's teacher Alyson Stephens Kenney enrolled the school in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Pennies for Patients Program.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society did their part, too, putting Gabi's image on a poster they put up in the school hallway to promote the event.

The combination of the poster, Gabi's presence in the school and the fact young children of that age love to collect spare change, the school raised $1,431.81 during the three-week collection period.

"Gabi's a personal hero to his classmates," Stephens- Kenney said. "It's a nice connection for the kids to be able to put a face with the illness. They were so excited to be able to help. They brought in bags of money - pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters - and they were so excited to be able to help."

Burgess said the program goes hand-in-hand with the core values of the school.

"One of our School Council goals is to make community connections to people and families in need, so this seemed like a perfect connection," Burgess said. "The fact that we have a child who had been diagnosed with leukemia helped the kids identify with the program."

On hand for the April 3 presentation of the check to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Randi O'Hara were Gabi's parents, Renata and Vytas Bazikas, as well as his 2-year-old twin sisters, Ula and Austeja.

Gabi, according to Stephens Kenney, was unusually quiet and subdued during the April 3 check presentation. When asked if he knew that all his classmates had donated to the program because of what he went through he said, "Yes," but he spent a good deal of his time hugging his father and turning away from all the attention.

According to Vytas Bazikas, Gabi was diagnosed with AML in May 2006 and almost immediately spent six months as an inpatient at Children's Hospital in Boston.

"For children with AML, they have a special protocol," Vytas said. "They want you to get through all the chemotherapy sessions one after another. As soon as Gabi's body started to recover from one session, they'd hit him again with the next session."

Vytas said Gabi's chemotherapy sessions lasted between five and 12 days.

"Because of the chemo, the immune system would be completely depleted," Vytas said. "They used diff erent chemo drugs just about every time, depending on what stage Gabi was going through. Chemo kills cells, both good and bad, so the immune system would get totally wiped out. They'd wait several weeks for the immune system to start to come back, and once it came back, Gabi would go to his next chemotherapy session."

Gabi was discharged from Children's Hospital Nov. 7, 2006, and he enrolled at the Mary Finn School following Thanksgiving that year.