HOLMDEL – There were days at Bayonet Farm when the weather failed to cooperate for township resident Tony Salerno and his Eagle Scout project.
With a love and adoration for dogs guiding his vision, and a reverence for the Holmdel Township Police Department, Tony, 15, led a team of developers through the conceptual design and development of a training facility for the township’s K-9 unit.
The gray cloud coverage and frigid winds were just another obstacle in a long line of hurdles Tony had to clear in order to get to that point.
At age 2 Tony was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma and was given just a 30 percent chance of survival due to the toxic treatments, including six rounds of chemotherapy, radiation treatments and two stem cell transfusions. Though all of the procedures were successful, the methods destroyed one of his kidneys.
In August 2017 Tony’s remaining kidney failed and was replaced with a healthy organ donated by his father Tony Sr. According to his mother Karen, the weeks following the transplant were some of the most trying times of their lives.
“Most adults have already been exposed to Epstein-Barr. Tony had not, but his father had. The kidney was positive for it,” said Karen, referring to a virus that causes infectious mononucleosis.
Tony received suppression medication to ensure his body did not reject the kidney transplant, leaving his body defenseless against a virus no one suspected he had. After returning home Tony was transported back to the hospital days later with stomach pains, which led to another six-week hospital stay. The virus had attached itself to his cells and morphed into a form of lymphoma.
Following another six rounds of chemotherapy, Tony’s bowel perforated and he fell into septic shock. He was immediately airlifted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and given just a 5 percent chance of survival. He did.
However, after a successful surgery Tony was placed in a medically-induced coma. Once that was lifted, he was stricken with critical illness myopathy. “All connections between his brain and muscles were severed. He woke up from the paralytic actually paralyzed,” his mother said.
Tony spent eight months at CHOP rehabilitating his muscles with daily physical and occupational therapy sessions and returned home in April 2018.
According to Karen, he is progressing, and has reconnected many of the muscles in his body, but a lack of strength has made him unable to stand or walk.
With so many extreme medical setbacks affecting his physical abilities, depressive thoughts could have easily consumed him, but Tony said it’s goals like his Eagle Scout project that kept his mind clear and positive.
“There’s really no reason to be angry. Because you really can’t help getting sick. It’s not my fault that this happened. You really can’t control it. It’s something that just happens. The project was motivation for me to keep working and to get better and there are other things I want to do,” Tony said.
The Eagle Scout service project is the opportunity for a Boy Scout to demonstrate leadership of others while performing a project that benefits his community. It is a requirement in order for Boy Scouts to attain the Eagle Scout rank.
For his project, Tony dictated the construction plans to his mother for delivery to the team of developers. He oversaw the job from his wheelchair, ensuring each aspect was completed to specifications. Despite the physical complications, Karen said her son’s personality, drive and altruistic tendencies never wavered.
“Your brain and heart are what make you you, and that part is still with us, and I’m so thankful for that. I’m thankful there are things that make him happy and achievements he wants to strive for,” Karen added. “Odds said he wouldn’t be here today. There’s a reason he is. We may not know what it is yet. But he believes it.”
For Tony, life is about setting goals and working to reach them. This summer he is working to catch up on the mathematics work he missed out on at Holmdel High School. He is also trying to design an adaptive controller for his Xbox gaming console, so he can more easily play video games with his friends. In the fall he’ll return to the Boy Scouts to earn additional merit badges.
“He’s such a strong-willed individual. I look at these adversities and see his selflessness and passions still coming through and it’s honestly inspiring,” said Holmdel Police Detective Sgt. Edward Martinez, who leads the township’s K-9 unit. “It’s an infectious personality that he has. Through all of this he wants to help make his community a better place to live and that inspires us to want to do the same.”
While striving to achieve more with the Scouts and in the classroom, and working on his physical strength, Tony said he will continue to spend time with his 1-year-old beagle Cosmo and serve as an ambassador for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, an American pediatric cancer foundation.
