At 6 years old, kindergartener Melvin Bertchie passes time just as any other child that age might. He watches SpongeBob, plays with action figures, and loves the Power Rangers. However, for this Clara Barton School student, these activities are not carried out at a day care or at home.
Instead, for the past few months, Melvin has played with his toys and watched cartoons at Bristol-Meyers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. This is because in April, Melvin was diagnosed with leukemia and has been undergoing treatment there ever since.
In response to Melvin’s diagnosis, the staff, students and administration at Clara Barton knew they had to do something show their support for a student who is “a fantastic role model for being kind, responsible, and inclusive” as Melvin’s teacher Andrea Minster puts it.
Thus, the #MelvinStong campaign was born.
After staff from the Children’s Hospital came to Melvin’s class to explain his situation to his classmates, parents of Melvin’s classmates began to ask how they could show support. Now, about a dozen people are involved.
“Seven families, three instructional aides and I met after school and chose four fundraisers as well as a few activities the kids could do in order to let Melvin know how much they care about him and miss him,” Minster said.
‘It’s such a supportive family at Bordentown. You cannot do this on your own.’
Minster has been teaching in Bordentown for 17 years, and has taught at Clara Barton School for 15 years.
“I met Melvin in September when he entered kindergarten,” she said. “He is a joy not just for the adults in the room to teach but also a joy for the kids to interact with.”
The activities included a T-shirt sale, jeans days, and fundraisers at both Villa Mannino and Chickie’s and Pete’s restaurants. The T-shirt has the slogan “Fight like Melvin” emblazoned on the front.
Patrons who chose to participate in the fundraisers presented a flyer at each restaurant, and in turn, a percentage of their bill was automatically donated to the MelvinStrong fund, which helps Melvin’s family cover his medical costs.
Melvin’s peers also showed their support by creating a fleece blanket and signing superhero capes from Six Flags for Melvin to hang in his room. Several other students held a lemonade stand to raise funds for the family.
“It has been amazing,” said Melvin’s mother, Naomi Opoku, of all the support the school has shown Melvin. “It’s such a supportive family at Bordentown. You cannot do this on your own.”
Opoku came to the United States in 2009 and grew up in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. She currently works as a nurse, but tries to stay by Melvin’s side as much as possible.
“It’s been tough for everyone,” she said. “It’s not easy money-wise, you don’t get to work that much. When I have to go to work, my mother comes and stays with him while I work my shift.”
The first indication of Melvin’s condition was a rash on his shoulder and ankle.
“I took him to the pediatrician, then to the dermatologist, where they took a biopsy and found the cells,” she said.
According to the American Cancer Society, “The symptoms of leukemia are often caused by problems in the child’s bone marrow, which is where the leukemia begins. As leukemia cells build up in the marrow, they can crowd out the normal blood cell-making cells. As a result, a child may not have enough normal red blood cells, white blood cells, and blood platelets. These shortages show up on blood tests, but they can also cause symptoms.” Rashes can sometimes result from these internal problems.
Melvin is currently receiving chemotherapy treatments at the Children’s Hospital. After each treatment, he can return home for a few days. However, his last treatment is coming up and Opoku hopes he will be able to come home soon for good.
“He looks great now, and he’s getting back to his old self,” Opoku said as Melvin staged a battle between his Hulk and Spiderman action figures on his bed.
She laughed and continued, “He’s just 6 but he has the soul of a 36-year-old…He knows all of his medicines and can pronounce all of their names.”
As Melvin continues to persevere and fight the disease, he still maintains a happy demeanor.
Melvin has one sister, Michelle, who is 9. “They’re both very mature for their age,” Opoku said. When asked about Michelle, Melvin piped up, “She likes slime and to yo-yo!”
With regard to Minster, Melvin’s teacher who helped to organize the campaign, Opoku said, “She is the best. I could not ask for a better teacher. She visits him and reads stories to him and brings her own children sometimes.”
Opoku continued, “It’s great to have this support blanket and to have somebody to talk to.”
Minster says it is no surprise that the tight-knit community at Clara Barton School has rallied around the MelvinStrong cause.
“The community responded so well because of how real this cause becomes when it is affecting someone you know and enjoy seeing every day,” Minster said.
Not only is Melvin an avid superhero fan and a joy to have in class, but he also possesses a happiness and personality that radiates among his classmates.
The recipient of the kindness award at school, Melvin “always looks out for others” said his mother.
“At parent-teacher conferences, the teachers always tell me how during play time Melvin tries to make sure everyone is happy. He’s everybody’s advocate,” Opoku said. “He’s an amazing boy.”
Melvin’s story is not uncommon in America. According to the American Cancer Society, leukemia is the most common form of cancer in children and teens.
In the United States, about 3,500 children are diagnosed with leukemia each year, according to the MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center website.
As of now, chemotherapy, or the use of drugs to kill cancer cells, is the most common treatment of pediatric leukemia. Radiation therapy, stem cell transplants, and immunotherapy are other common practices used to treat children diagnosed with leukemia.
These practices, along with new innovations, have helped develop a promising diminishing trend in childhood leukemia mortality rates.
The National Cancer Institute states that improvement in childhood cancer rates, “has been especially dramatic for…acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is the most common childhood cancer. Improved treatments introduced beginning in the 1960s and 1970s raised the five-year survival rate for children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia before age 20 years from less than 10 percent in the 1960s to about 88 percent in 2007–2013.”
As Melvin continues to persevere and fight the disease, he still maintains a happy demeanor. His face lights up when one of his favorite movies, Black Panther, is mentioned and he laughs at the cartoons playing on his ward television.
His mother smiles and watches him from the bed constructed by his window where she spends her days and nights by his side.
“All at #MelvinStrong have been thrilled and so thankful for the support given to Melvin’s family,” said Minster. Currently, there are not more fundraisers scheduled, as “at this point, we are waiting to see when Melvin might be able to come home.”
Those wishing to donate to the #MelvinStrong campaign can write checks out to “CBS PTO.”
A shirt in honor of Melvin Bertchie, a Clara Barton student who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.,
