________ Franklin square/elmont _______
HERALD Elmont marches on Memorial Day
laura Ryder receives honor
Kicking off the Belmont Stakes
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Vol. 25 No. 24
JUNE 8 - 14, 2023
$1.00
Men of Elmont host a summit to remember By ANA BoRRUTo aborruto@liherald.com
Billy Harrison/Herald
A Memorial Day for those of all ages The Franklin Square Cub Scouts marched in the community’s annual Memorial Day Parade, sporting patriotic beaded necklaces. Story, more photos, page 3.
“It’s never goodbye — it’s just see you later.” Those were the parting words from Kevin Dougherty, principal of Elmont Memorial High School, for the large crowd at the seventh annual Men of Elmont summit — the final one for the beloved program founder. Af fectionately known as “Doc,” Dougherty announced in April that he was leaving the school district after eight years. The 2023 summit theme — “MOE4Life” — focused not only on Dougherty’s departure, but on brotherhood and carrying on
the Men of Elmont legacy. “Nobody can ever take this away from us, and what we’ve done, and what happened here in Elmont,” Dougherty said. “We will remember that forever, we will tell stories about it — and I know that this will be carried on, because this isn’t about one person.” Dougherty brought the program to the high school in 2016 with the initial thought of helping boys who were getting into trouble at school. His goal was to give the students a space to have real discussions about topics of interest to them, and to set them on the Continued on page 4
Cancer-stricken firefighter in desperate need of stem cells By REI WolFSoHN Intern
Firefighters from the Franklin Square Munson Fire Department are banding together for a fellow firefighter in need. Chris Dand, a 25-year member of the department, is in need of a bone marrow transplant for his fight against a rare and aggressive cancer, and the department is hosting a stem cell donor drive to help recruit potential donors next Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Fire Department partnered with Be the Match — a marrow registry operated by the National Marrow Donor Program — to run the donor drive
and hand out saliva swab kits for testing compatibility. T he department encourages people to test even sooner than the drive. “Timing is everything — so the earlier, the better,” Fire Commissioner Les Saltzman said. “The more people on the registry, the better.” Those who are interested in testing but can’t make it to the event may acquire a test from BeTheMatch.org and test anytime at home. Once they are in the registry, Be the Match can match a person with anyone in need of a donor, anywhere in the country, at any time.
“How many people can say that they donated their stem cells and cured somebody of cancer and changed their life forever?” said Louis Sabatino, former Franklin Square Munson chief.
Dand’s journey with cancer
Dand was first diagnosed with T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, a rare and aggressive cancer, in 2018. It is believed to have stemmed from when he was helping at ground zero in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The median age for diagnosis of the disease is 61, and it affects more men than women. In 2019, Dand received his
first bone marrow transplant, from his brother. It wasn’t a perfect match, but it was enough to put Dand into remission. Since his first diagnosis, Dand has had to be careful about getting sick, since his immune system is low-functioning. As well, he has faced multiple medical side effects from cancer treat-
ment. The first time around, Dand “underwent treatment for months, taking a tremendous physical toll on his body,” according to the Fire Department. His treatment the first time around was “pretty torturous,” Sabatino said. He was unable to Continued on page 8