Tiffany Rolon-Locus, who made a triumphant return to the volleyball court shortly after undergoing a successful kidney transplant, has been named a 2020 Marisa Tufaro Foundation Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship recipient.
In addition to being a two-sport athlete, the Colonia High School senior, who medaled in the Greater Middlesex Conference track and field championships last spring, placing sixth in the shot put, is highly involved in her church, has performed community service, volunteered at soup kitchens, tutored elementary and middle school students, and served as a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Rolon-Locus also somehow managed to find time to work for the past two years as a secretary.
She was honored last month as one of 65 Greater Middlesex Conference Sportsmanship Award recipients, representing Colonia as its female honoree.
Rolon-Locus did not allow her medical issues to interfere with her studies. Her demanding course load included multiple advanced placement, honors and college-level classes. She was also a member of the Spanish Honor Society.
The inspirational teenager was diagnosed during her sophomore year with chronic kidney disease.
“I had went to the doctors for a checkup, and we had taken blood work,” Rolon-Locus told Angelina Wintonick, co-editor-in-chief of The Declaration, Colonia’s student newspaper, who authored a wonderful feature story on her classmate.
“Two weeks later, the doctor called my mom, telling her that the tests were abnormal. I had to be taken to the emergency room at St. Barnabas (Medical Center) immediately. Once we got there, the doctors told me that my kidneys were completely shutting down. It was a miracle that I was even still alive.”
Rolon-Locus endured months of dialysis treatments, receiving hemodialysis through a catheter in her chest and peritoneal dialysis through a tube in her stomach, before ultimately being listed for a transplant.
She received her new kidney in early July 2018. About a month later, after receiving medical clearance, Rolon-Locus showed up for volleyball tryouts prior to the start of her junior year.
“Seeing her walk through the door, I wasn’t just happy to see that she was playing volleyball, I was happy that she was part of our lives again,” said Colonia coach Tom Hennessy, who stopped practice and joined his players in giving Rolon-Locus a huge hug.
“My first thought wasn’t about volleyball,” Hennessy said. “It was, ‘Oh my God, she’s here.’”
Rolon-Locus commenced the 2018 campaign on the jayvee squad and was called up to the varsity midway through the season, helping Colonia post a 19-5 record and reach the conference tournament semifinals.
The following year, Rolon-Locus was part of a team that advanced to the conference tournament championship and finished with a 25-4 mark.
“When she first walked in, I kind of thought she was a born leader for the team,” Hennessy recalled of his initial impression of Rolon-Locus.
“She’s always been mature for her age. People turned to her all the time. I don’t think there is one person in our program that didn’t like her. She has such good character and she’s fun to be around.”
Prior to the Colonia football team’s 2018 season opener, which took place less than two months after Rolon-Locus’ transplant surgery, she joined her volleyball teammates to collect nonperishable food items that the gridiron squad, in partnership with The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, later donated to the Hands of Hope Food Pantry.
Woodbridge Township Public Schools recognized Rolon-Locus as an inspiration to others, featuring her in a televised segment of the district’s show, “The Bridge.”
She will attend Seton Hall University in the fall.
Following are hot links to stories detailing the many ways our foundation has assisted pediatric patients and other children in need since its inception.
- As a way of giving back to the Greater Middlesex Conference, which has been among our nonprofit’s biggest supporters, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation jump-started the league’s fundraising effort to feed county families with a $2,500 donation to the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Services.
- Provided funding for a part-time healthcare social worker to assist families of pediatric patients under the care of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics’ Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
- Donated more than $2,500 worth of ShopRite, Target and Walmart gift cards to dozens of Middlesex County families in need, helping parents purchase food, necessities and presents for their children this holiday season.
- Partnered with Woodbridge High School, the Central Jersey bowling community and the Port Reading Fire Department and EMS to deliver more than 1,000 toys to patients at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital this holiday season.
- Sponsored more than 80 South Brunswick High School student-athletes, who donated their time and youthful energy to participate in a charity kickball tournament benefiting an inspirational boy living with an incurable and terminal disease.
- Established a fund at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, from which Marisa received outstanding care for her entire life, to provide financial support to families of pediatric patients from Middlesex County in medical crisis by helping to pay medical, personal or incidental expenses.
- Donated to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s newly established extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program, a specialized cardiac and respiratory support system that saved Marisa’s life at another medical facility following her heart transplant.
- Conducted a boardwalk-themed Family Fun Night for a second consecutive year at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital, where the sights, sounds and smells of the Jersey Shore were brought to patients and their families through carnival games, food, prizes, music and more.
- Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to treat Special Olympics athletes from the Raritan Bay Area YMCA to a Somerset Patriots game experience.
- Partnered with the Saint Joseph High School football program and campus ministry to pack and donate more than 200 “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.
- Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital for a third consecutive year.
- Funded the purchase of uniforms (shirts and shorts) for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.
- Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County girl who was born with a complex cardiac defect to vacation with her family at Walt Disney World.
- Provided six summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
- Provided college scholarship dollars to 10 high school students whose classroom performance and extracurricular involvement reflected Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors aligned with our foundation’s mission.
- Sponsored a Middlesex County elementary school’s field trip to Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center in Monroe, where students from self-contained autistic classes were afforded the opportunity to interact with horses and baby goats.
- As a way of giving back to the Rutgers University baseball program, whose roster features several players that have supported our nonprofit, our foundation matched the Scarlet Knights’ fundraising efforts with a donation to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s child life program.
- Assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses. Respecting their privacy, the foundation never divulges the names of those individuals or the dollar amount of assistance it provides.
- Paid forward the generosity Saint Thomas Aquinas High School has bestowed upon our foundation with a donation to the school community’s 21st annual Ahr Star spaghetti dinner, whose beneficiaries included a 9-year-old boy from Middlesex County with multiple disabilities.
- Partnered with the Edison and J.P. Stevens high school girls basketball teams to collect baby care items to donate to the Edison-based Ozanam Family Shelter.
- Partnered with the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators to offer financial relief to parents of children in medical crisis who lost wages while caring for their child at the hospital, who lack health insurance or whose insurance provider won’t cover certain medical expenses.
- Funded the purchase of brand-new metal bunk beds for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.
- Partnered with Old Bridge and South Brunswick high schools to collect thousands of toys for pediatric patients at Saint Peter’s University Children’s Hospital and Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Partnered with the Kittim N. Sherrod Foundation to provide a youth football and cheerleading organization with a bilingual state-of-the art automated external defibrillator, as well as AED and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for adult members of the organization.
- Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, to which our foundation also provided funds for infant mobiles and toy cars staff use to transport children to the operating room for surgery.
- Provided money for equipment and supplies for students with disabilities who utilize the Lakeview School’s newly constructed aquatics center.
- Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to provide medical alert bracelets to children with autism and pediatric patients with chronic illness who receive outstanding care from Children’s Specialized Hospital, which annually serves more than 34,000 children statewide.
- Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County boy who is winning a battle with high-risk neuroblastoma to vacation with his family at Walt Disney World.
- Provided physical therapy at Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center and Project Walk for Middlesex County children whose families do not have health insurance or whose families’ health insurer does not cover the cost of the physical therapy.
- Partnered with Edison High School and the Chamberlain College of Nursing for two consecutive years to raise money and collect nonperishable food items to benefit Middlesex County children and their families through Hands of Hope via our foundation’s participation in the Race to Outrun Hunger.
- Provided new iPads and gaming system accessories (Xbox and PS4 games, controllers, chargers) for adolescent patients at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Partnered with Woodbridge High School and the Central Jersey bowling community to deliver hundreds of toys to patients at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, where Marisa underwent a successful heart transplant.
- Provided 7 summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
- Provided college scholarship dollars to 7 high school students whose classroom performance and extracurricular involvement reflected Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors aligned with our foundation’s mission.
- Made a donation in honor of Piscataway’s Conackamack Middle School, which honored Marisa during its 27th annual Turkey Trot, to the township’s FISH Hospitality Program, which provides shelter, meals, clothing and other services to homeless families in Middlesex County.
- Provided James Monroe Elementary School students with food items to fill a hundred “Weekend Snack Bags” for pediatric patients’ families.
- Provided meals and goods for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Central Jersey.
- Partnered with Middlesex High School to conduct a coat drive for Middlesex County children.
- Provided gift cards for pediatric patients and their families.
Thank you everyone Tiffany is very grateful.