Cousins still working together on kids' Charity they created
By Wendi Winters

The two children could visit, but they couldn't roughhouse. There were just too many germs. Both were lonely.

First cousins Shelby McKnew and Nicholas Marriam, both 13, could almost have been twins. Rising eighth-graders, they were born three months apart. Nick lived in Edgewater and Shelby lives in Grasonville, on the Eastern Shore. Hardly a week went by when they weren't tumbling around. They'd put their dark blond heads together and dream up mischief - usually some stunt to bug Shelby's big brother Joshua, now 18.

In October 1999, when Nick was 6 years old, he suddenly had trouble breathing, complained of stomach aches and tired easily. His parents, Angel and Fred, took him to Anne Arundel Medical Center. When an X-ray was taken, doctors crowded around. "He had a tumor so big in his chest, it had moved his heart over and collapsed his lung," said his aunt Sheila McKnew. "He was taken immediately to Children's Hospital in Washington and diagnosed there." Her young nephew had T-cell non-Hodgkins Leukemia - a rare disease in children. "Our families were devastated," she said.

Nick spent the next two years in the hospital, battling cancer and life-threatening complications. He wasn't able to go to school, as his cousin did. Chemotherapy made his hair fall out. The boy often looked around the ward and realized many kids didn't get the visitors or gifts he was receiving. They were lonelier than he was.

At Camp Friendship, a summer camp for cancer-stricken kids, Nick heard about Make A Difference Day, created by USA Weekend magazine in 1991. It's a day when Americans are encouraged to volunteer on service projects, big or small, in their communities. Three million volunteers participated in last year's event. This year's Make A Difference Day is Oct. 28.

He and Shelby put their heads together again, but this time it wasn't for mischief. They discussed doing a project, deciding to take gifts to the kids in the cancer ward at Children's Hospital. They called their idea the Nickelby Project - Nickelby is a combination of their first names - and collected donations to put into gift bags. Then they visited the children.

Paul Newman, the actor, heard about the Nickelby Project and awarded Nick a $10,000 donation to his choice of charities. Nick promptly split it between Children's Hospital and Camp Friendship. In 2004 the Washington Capitals hockey team chose Nick - an ardent fan - for their 7th Kid Award.

This year will be the sixth Make A Difference Day for the cousins.
"Nick's family moved to Clayton, N.C., a couple years ago," said Shelby, who's now an honor-roll student at Centreville Middle School. "But we still work year-round collecting donations for our project. Now we bring bags to three hospitals: Children's Hospital in DC; University of North Carolina's Rex Hospital in Raleigh; and Duke University Hospital in Durham."

The two kids get together at Shelby's house and combine all the donated merchandise. They take the cash donations and shop for additional gifts. Then they sort items by gender and begin filling bags. A typical bag might include a stuffed toy, a coloring book, a note pad, a TGI Friday's gift cup and coupon, "stress reliever" pucks from the Capitals, a disposable camera, and a shampoo and conditioner gift pack. The Ladies Auxiliary of VFW Post 7464 of Grasonville holds fund-raisers to donate money to provide meals for the parents of the hospitalized children. The McKnews go shopping and put together a sumptuous buffet at each hospital.

Lately, Shelby has noticed teenagers could use some gift bags, too. She'd like to make bags for them filled with CDs, cosmetics, nail polish, journals, scrap books and accessories teens love. "We're looking for donations of goods, services, gift cards and things we can raffle off to raise funds for purchasing other gifts for the bags," said Shelby. "We could use a storage unit on the Eastern Shore, too," laughed her mom, who works for Highlander Diesel in Edgewater. "Our attic is about to burst," said her father Doug, who works at United Propane.

Last year a North Carolina nonprofit group, Triangle Wish, received a request from Nick's mother. She wanted a backyard pool so her son could swim and exercise his heart, weakened by cancer and cancer-fighting drugs. Nick had a different wish: He wanted to incorporate the Nickelby Project as a nonprofit organization. In the past, groups that had donated to the kids weren't able to take a tax deduction. Several companies built and donated the pool, and the Redwoods Group in North Carolina paid for the legal time and paperwork to incorporate the Nickelby Project.

The cousins' goal this year is to deliver 250 bags to each of the three hospitals. "We go through the whole entire hospital," said Shelby. "We start with the cancer ward. At Children's Hospital, it's like old home week. The nurses remember Nick and are excited to see him again. We have a guide who takes us to all the wards. We always check in with the head nurse." "It's pretty good having Shelby involved," said Nick. "She's a major help and my partner in the Nickelby Project. She's a great person. Our moms help a lot, too." Shelby's mother said that with Nick in remission, one wouldn't be able to tell he had cancer. "We visit with parents," she said. "They see him and it gives them hope that their child will get healthy."

Now the kids have another idea. "We want to keep doing this and add more hospitals," explained Shelby. "Our goal is to ultimately set up scholarships for kids who have cancer."

For more information, donors can visit the Web site at www.nickelbyproject.org. Visitors will be asked to vote online for Nick, one of 10 people competing for the Energizer Keep Going Hall of Fame. Voting ends Aug. 1. The winner receives $10,000, which Nick hopes to plow back into the Nickelby Project.