Schools
'Angel Touch' gives back in BE student's memory
By Elizabeth Bush
May 22, 2008 - 11:55:24 AM

ELIZABETH BUSH (l to r) Bishop England students Katie Stacy, Shannon Graham, Shelby McCarthy, and Rachel Miller are members of Angel Touch, an organization formed in memory of Mary Marquardt, a BE student who passed away last year after battling cancer. The group is raising money to benefit the pediatric oncology unit at the MUSC Children’s Hospital, a cause dear to Mary’s heart.

Mary Marquardt was expected to graduate in May 2009 from Bishop England, but a hard-fought battle with cancer would cut her life tragically short. Mary, whom her friends described as an effervescent and vibrant teenager with an ever-ready smile, passed away just over a year ago, leaving those who knew her immersed in unimaginable grief.

"It was the day after she passed away," said Shelby McCarthy, one of Mary’s closest friends. "I came home from school and my mom was like ‘I just don’t like sitting here, I feel like we should do something. I feel like all the girls can’t say goodbye.’"

"This was a tall, beautiful, sweet, outgoing teenager who played basketball and volleyball, was an honor student," recalled Shelby’s mother, Katy. "…It just shook everyone to the core."

So together, the two hatched a plan that would not only honor and memorialize Mary, but one that would also help channel the community’s grief into something positive. With a group of Mary’s friends from both Bishop England and Wando High School, they formed Angel Touch. The organization would help provide emotional support for the girls, while benefiting the pediatric oncology unit at the MUSC Children’s Hospital, a cause that had been very dear to Mary’s heart.

"We all got together," added Shelby, who, along with many of the Angel Touch members, met Mary while attending school at Christ Our King in Mount Pleasant. "We could see each other. We could talk about it. And we could pray about it. It just really helped us."

"It’s helped me because my dad had cancer, so it’s helped me get over it because he didn’t involve me much," said Rachel Miller, another BE student and member of Angel Touch. "This is helping me give back because I didn’t really have a chance to help him."

The newly formed group, made up of 15 students, quickly got to work organizing multiple fundraisers. They held a car wash off Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant and raised $2,000 in just six or seven hours. They generated another $4,000 selling bumper stickers, t-shirts, flowers, baked goods, bracelets and more. And soon, they will embark on their biggest fundraiser yet, the "Floppin’ Flounder 5K Run & Walk" on Sullivan’s Island on June 14.

"I hope a lot of students come," said Shannon Graham, another Angel Touch member, of the upcoming race. "…I just hope it’s a lot of young kids."

The established event is currently being run by the Sullivan’s Island Fire and Rescue Department, but will eventually be turned over to Angel Touch and renamed "Mary’s Race". All proceeds, from this year forward, will benefit Angel Touch and the MUSC Children’s Hospital cancer unit in memory of Mary.

"That’s where Mary had all her treatments," said Shannon, referring to a pediatric subspecialty unit dubbed ‘7B’ at the hospital.

"Most important to Mary was to help better the people at the MUSC children’s ward, to make things easier for them, and more comfortable," added Shelby.

Angel Touch members also plan to contribute funding towards research for Mary’s specific cancer, epithelioid sarcoma. In addition, as the name of the group implies, the organization continues to benefit those involved behind the scenes.

"I think the main thing is it brought us all together," said Katie Stacy, also a friend of Mary’s at Bishop England and an Angel Touch member. "And it made us realize how sometimes you don’t have that long to live here…(Mary) inspired me to want to help others…I think the ‘touch’ part of it is that even if you weren’t a close friend, and just a classmate (of Mary’s), she still touched other people’s lives."

Even though in the end, Mary’s cancer treatments had become increasingly difficult and painful, she was still a light for all who came in contact with her.

"We’d go and see her and she would have this big grin on her face!" recalled Shelby.

"She always had a smile," added Shannon. "I don’t have a memory of her not smiling."

Despite the fact that she is no longer here, Mary is still making a difference.

"The biggest testimony I thought that she gave us was towards the end she was barely conscious…and she woke up and said ‘this is a miracle…I’ve been on this earth and it’s a miracle the time God has given to us’," said Shelby. "It’s true that her life really was a miracle because she touched so many people."

Angel Touch members hope to present Mary’s family and MUSC with the proceeds from all of their fundraisers at the Bishop England Class of 2009 graduation next year. No doubt Mary’s presence will be felt then, as it is today.

"It’s just nice to have the feeling that there is someone watching over you. And of course we all felt like Mary was, and is," added Shelby. "…It’s just nice knowing you have someone up there."