Upper St. Clair man goes ‘Over the Edge’ for a good cause
First, the good news: 10-year-old Anna Fera’s latest checkup showed her to be clear of cancer following her treatment for medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor.
“She’s doing a lot better,” her father, Mike, reported. “She still has some nausea and pain when eating, but she has come a long, long way.”
Now, the not-so-good: According to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, all types of childhood cancers combined receive only 4 percent of the U.S. federal funding for cancer research. To help compensate for the shortchanging, Mike recently participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Over the Edge fundraiser by rappelling 22 stories down the side of Pittsburgh’s Koppers Building.
“This was a completely new experience,” the Upper St. Clair resident said, but his willingness to give it a try paid off handsomely.
Donations made through his Over the Edge personal website netted $2,560. Plus his co-worker Bill Angotti – he has a family member who is a lymphoma survivor – rappelled alongside Mike to raise another $1,925.
“I’m terrified of heights, so I thought it was a little insane, at first,” Mike’s wife, Jodi, said. “But then, I knew he was doing it for a good cause, and the reward behind it was much more.”
Part of Mike’s impetus was to raise awareness of what children and their families face when battling cancer, by sharing his daughter’s story and that of Austyn Halter, whom the Feras met at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis while Anna was receiving treatment there.
In a circumstance that’s all too common – cancer is by far the No. 1 cause of death by disease among American children – Austyn was diagnosed with leukemia in 2015 and, despite undergoing chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, she died this Aug. 4 at age 4½.
“I did not have fear,” Mike said about going Over the Edge, “because I knew that God was with me. Austyn, our newest little angel, was with me, saying, ‘You got this, Mr. Mike.'”
As Jodi explained: “That’s what she always said – ‘You got this. You got this’ – to all the other kids,” and in fact cheered Anna on that way in an inspirational video.
As for Mike descent down the Koppers Building?
“Anna and all the kids we’ve met at St. Jude were with me,” he continued. “If they can endure all the fear, pain and suffering that they went through to battle cancer, I can easily rappel this building. So that helped me through. That overcame any fear that I would have had.”
The Feras became involved with Over the Edge through their company, Bulldog Office Products, which provides support for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, along with St. Jude. Bulldog staff members have formed “Anna’s Army” to show their support for her, with hopes of receiving nothing but good news in the future.