Paying It Forward

Spinners prove big spenders to help Matt Lash defray medical costs.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer

F

or Roberta Lash, saying "thank You"
to those who brought support during
her son's illness means making certain
she looks ahead toward helping others.
"To say we are overwhelmed by the response
from the community would be an understate-
ment," says Lash of Novi, whose 21-year-old son
Matt is undergoing treatment for Ewing's sarco-
ma, a type of bone cancer that resulted in the
amputation of his leg. After being surrounded by
the encouragement of family, friends and even
strangers, she says she hopes to repay their good
deeds by helping others.
"Our hope is to continue, like the movie, Pay
It Forward, to help other families who are facing
similar challenges — and perhaps they will help
others, too."
When staff at Powerhouse Gym in West
Bloomfield heard an experimental inhalation
drug therapy Matt began last month when the
cancer spread to his lungs, is not covered by his
insurance, they organized a March 23 Spin-A-
Thon fund-raiser.
Stationary bike riders "spun" for donations
made to the Matthew Lash Foundation, created
to offset Lash's medical costs. With each of the
gym's 25 bikes reserved at a minimum $100-per-
hour donation, the Lashes hoped the four-hour-
long event would bring in $10,000 in contribu-
tions. The fact that $30,000 was raised is over-
whelming to Roberta Lash, who doesn't yet
know how high Matt's treatment cost will reach.
She credits the donation amount to "so many
people who gave of themselves in a most extraor-
dinary way, coming together to support a family
during a trying time."
"I was in awe of how many people came to
help the foundation," says Matt, who was able to
attend the event just two weeks after lung sur-
gery. "It really showed me the power and the
determination of a community so tightly knit. I
felt loved, and hope they knew that they were
receiving the same in return."
Much of Matt's support system was also there,
including his parents, Roberta and Clifford;
brother Jason and fiancee Kelley Sheren, both

25, of Grand Rapids; Matt's girlfriend Suzy
Sidote, 21, of Sterling Heights; grandmothers
Maryjane Morrison of Highland Park, Ill. and
Lois Lash of Niles, Ill.; aunt and uncle, Michael
and Debbie Morrison of Elk Grove Village, Ill.;
and many friends.

Helping Out

Donations at the event came in all ways —
including one from a club member who noticed
the sandwiches donated by the gym for riders
and was told by an owner to help himself
"Upon hearing about the Spin-A-Thon (in the
upper area of the building), he came upstairs and
gave $100," Roberta Lash says. "That is one
expensive sandwich."
Andrea Bernstein of Farmington Hills
arrived with 21-year-old son Jesse, who is
Matt's roommate. Also along were sister
Barbara Jacobs of Huntington Woods and her
daughter, Amanda, 10.
"Amanda overheard my sister and I talking

about the Spin-A-Thon,"
Clifford, Matt and
Bernstein says. She went into
Roberta Lash of
her bedroom, came back and
Novi at the
handed me her little pink piggy
Spin-A-Thon.
bank with $9.22 that she wanted
me to donate to the Matt Lash
Foundation."
Marcia Manson, who with her
husband, Marc, helped organize
the event, says "Another mother brought her son
with a Baggie filled with change he collected.
Those are very special donations as they came
from the hearts of small children."
Manson of Farmington Hills spun with her
sons, first-time spinners, Benjamin, 24 and
Jeremy, 21, who is Mart's best friend. "People
kept coming in with donations, not caring about
the spinning," she says. "They all gave from their
hearts, taking the time to personally meet Matt.
Among non-riders who came by to show sup-

PAYING IT FORWARD on page 42

4/12
2002

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