Ossining teacher unites school for student with rare cancer

When Jill Anderson found out one of her fourth graders was diagnosed with cancer, she thought it would be nice to raise money selling something that her class of 23 students could wear in support of their peer.

Then the whole school found out, and the idea took off.

Now, 900 bandanas are being handed out today to every student and staff member at Claremont Elementary School in Ossining for the annual Field Day event that will be dedicated to 10-year-old Gavin King this year.

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"They have done so much for others while going through something so terrible that I wanted to do something really huge for their family and their son," Anderson said. "I just can't get over this, and not everybody knows this family."

In January, Gavin was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. The treatments he's been receiving at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have kept him largely out of school.

Anderson said she knew she wanted to bring her class together something for him, and when she approached the family she said it was Gavin's idea to do bandanas. They designed a logo with a G and the letters "NPG," to represent his motto "No problem Gavin."

Anderson initially mentioned the idea to her colleagues in a faculty meeting, and from there emails went home to families in the school letting them know about the idea and it spread instantly.

Parents and teachers started sponsoring their classes' bandana purchasing, one teacher assigned her students to write persuasive essays to convince others to buy the special kerchiefs, and a third grader took it upon herself to design a poster and hung them around the school. (Anderson said it took the staff weeks to figure out who did it.)

Gavin received special permission from his doctors to skip a day of treatments today and attend Field Day where a surprise banner signed by all the students and staff in the school will be unfurled at the event, and the roughly $1,000 raised from the bandanas will be donated to the pediatric unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Anderson said it's "going to be a day where he feels really special and gets to play all day."