A 5-Year-Old's Sudden Accident Inspires "Award-Winning" Blood Drives at Pocomoke High School
Matthew G. is your typical 18-year-old. The Pocomoke High School senior plays tennis, runs track and works as a lifeguard at the YMCA. Looking up at the 6-foot, 6-inch slender teen, one might never guess how a holiday gift in 1994 changed his life forever.
It was two days after Christmas and 5-year-old Matthew was playing with a new toy and eating pretzels. After noticing a clear fluid on the table in front of him, Matthew did what kids do. He sucked up the fluid on the table.
"I remember doing it. It looked like Sprite," he said.
That's the last thing Matthew remembers. What the little boy thought was soda was actually battery fluid that had leaked out from the new toy.
"The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital," he added.
The battery fluid had burned his esophagus. Matthew underwent several procedures in the hospital to try and keep his esophagus open so he could breathe. By January of 1996, doctors had removed his esophagus and pulled his stomach up into his chest. He received several blood transfusions.
At the time of the accident, Matthew's mother, Gail, was the girls' basketball coach at Pocomoke High School. When a student on her team heard what happened to Matthew, she arranged a blood drive at the school in honor of Matthew. She also wanted to raise awareness about the need for blood.
What began as a gesture of solidarity has led Pocomoke High School to be a top donor school for seven consecutive years. Matthew gave blood for the first time at the blood drive in October.
"We can literally take these numbers (of units donated) and multiply them by three, because that's how many people these donors are helping," said Matthew's mother, Gail. "It is an amazing thing when young people show they care - even if they're a little scared of a needle. Our family is so grateful to the people who keep on giving because at one time our son was the one who needed the blood."
