Feb. 21, 2004 – On Monday, Feb. 23, Lockhart Elementary students from Grades 4, 5 and 6 will walk from the school to Emancipation Garden, where they will take part in a 10:30 a.m. ceremony celebrating the life of Nigel O. Hodge.
Nigel, at one time a Lockhart Elementary student, died in 1994 as a result of medical mistakes made in his treatment for Hodgkin's Disease. Doctors diagnosed the Hodgkin's two weeks after he discovered a lump under his arm, but just 38 days later, he died. After his death, it was determined he had been given repeated doses of the wrong type of chemotherapy, a release said.
Determined that Nigel's death would not be in vain, the Hodge family in 1996 created the Nigel O. Hodge Foundation Fund at the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, using monies from a wrongful death lawsuit. The fund provides information, support and financial assistance to children with cancer in the Virgin Islands and the Caribbean. Further information about the fund is available from the CFVI at 774-6031.
Proceeds from the walk-a-thon will supplement a newly established account within the Hodge fund to provide emergency assistance to Lockhart students.
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