Pediatric oncology donation honors Mazzola, Koppel and Spotswood

In loving memory of Ron Mazzola, in honor of cancer survivor Jake Koppel and in tribute to the caring Spotswood school-community, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated to the Division of Hematology/Oncology at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick.

The donation spearheads the foundation’s “Mazzola Monday” campaign, in which the nonprofit respectfully requests individuals consider performing an act of kindness on April 4 to reflect Mazzola’s boundless generosity and the countless lives he impacted.

Mazzola, 61, died unexpectedly at his home on Feb. 21, leaving an ineffable void in the New Jersey scholastic sports community and beyond.

He was among the biggest supporters of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation and played an enormous role in helping the nonprofit fulfill its mission of assisting pediatric patients and other children in need.

Known best perhaps as “Mr. Old Bridge,” Mazzola also had a significant and lasting impact on Spotswood High School’s athletics programs, particularly its football and wrestling teams, for which he provided public address.

Spotswood also served as an intersection for one of Mazzola’s countless connections with two families as dear to his heart as his own beloved parents and wonderful siblings.

Despite the absence of a biological component, the Koppels of Spotswood and the Bradys of Old Bridge might as well have been considered Mazzola’s blood relatives.

Mazzola first met Jake when Koppel’s older sister Meaghan, a 2002 Spotswood High School alumna who has taught and coached in the school district since 2007, was playing varsity soccer for the Chargers under coach Kevin Brady.

Several years later, Jake, now 28, was diagnosed, as a Spotswood High School student, with leukemia.

A cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system, Jake beat leukemia into remission through the treatment and medical care Saint Peter’s provided.

Saint Peter’s pediatric hematology and oncology program provides diagnosis and treatment for infants, children and adolescents with cancer and disorders of the blood. The program provides follow-up care for survivors up to the age of 30.

Saint Peter’s pediatric hematology and oncology program is a clinical test site for the National Cancer Institute’s Children’s Oncology Group clinical trials. The partnership gives Saint Peter’s access to the latest research, data and information on treatments of childhood cancers from specialists nationwide.

“The care at Saint Peter’s was top notch, but more importantly the doctors and nurses always made us feel safe and comfortable,” Jake said. “A lot of the treatment I felt was mind over matter, and their constant love and positivity went a long way to reinforce that. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Jake initially responded well to chemotherapy but developed severe complications, including pneumonia and sepsis, which landed him in intensive care.

“We didn’t know if he was going to make it,” Jake’s doctor said in a 2012 interview with MyCentralJersey.com. “But Jake has strength of character, determination and a will to carry on. It couldn’t have been easy. It was all he could do some days to just drag himself out of bed. It’s an incredible comeback.”

The support Jake received from the entire Spotswood school-community, including the high school’s boys basketball program, for which he served as team manager and which dedicated the 2011-12 season to him, remains with Koppel to this day.

“They were amazing,” Koppel said. “They constantly kept me in their thoughts and went out of their way to make me feel better, even when I didn’t ask or expect them to.”

The Spotswood school-community, which has supported other students and staff members in medical crisis or families who have endured tragedy, is known for its Mazzola-like compassion and benevolence.

“Everybody is always looking out for one another,” Spotswood High School Athletics Director Mike Del Aversano said of his school-community. “No matter what, we always have each other’s backs. It’s such a tight-knit community and Ron was right with us. He was always there to help if we needed anything. He was always looking out for the Spotswood kids. He always made us a priority. To us, he’s a Spotswood guy.”

Another example of Mazzola’s affinity for the school-community was his love and overwhelming support of former Spotswood cheerleading coach Colleen Meyers, an immensely popular Social Studies teacher at the high school who fought a winning battle with breast cancer. Meyers is among seemingly countless individuals with whom Mazzola developed a mutual dear friendship.

Noone, perhaps, knowns better than Koppel the impact Mazzola could make on one’s life. He described Mazzola, who took Jake to “as many baseball games as he could” and “really allowed me to get back to my normal self,” as the person who helped him most.

“If it wasn’t for Ron, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as easy to adjust back to a normal life,” Koppel said.

“Ron was the most genuinely kind, giving person I’ve ever met. He asked for nothing, and he only wanted to experience life with the people he loved and appreciated and even beyond. He was an endless source of positivity and generosity. There are no words able to sum up the impact he had on people’s lives. He just loved putting a smile on people’s faces and he would do it so effortlessly and in a way so surreal, something you would never find in any other human being.

“I truly believe his life’s purpose from beginning to end was to be a constant beacon of love and positivity. There will never be another Ron.”

Koppel still has some physical scars from his treatment, which he said serve as a constant reminder that “I was able to take cancer head on and beat it” with the help of an outstanding medical team, a caring school-community, and a dear friend.

“I learned a lot from the experience,” Jake said, “and got to see the endless love and support from everybody as a result.”