The Power of Kindness and Community

This year, Mar­shall Wood­side and his fam­i­ly dis­cov­ered the impor­tance of con­nec­tions and the pow­er of com­mu­ni­ty support.

Ear­li­er this year, he was diag­nosed with Mul­ti­ple Scle­ro­sis. His treat­ment jour­ney led him and his moth­er, Car­rie, to Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) and the QMG Infu­sion Cen­ter. Here, they found more than med­ical care; they dis­cov­ered a close-knit team who would become an inte­gral part of their sup­port system.

One of his care team mem­bers was Carey Britt, a reg­is­tered nurse with the QMG Infu­sion Cen­ter, who recalled, ​“When Mar­shall came to us for his first infu­sion he was extreme­ly ner­vous. With lots of encour­age­ment, some Dr. Pep­per, a cook­ie, and sev­er­al hot laps around the infu­sion cen­ter his anx­i­ety less­ened. In the process of him com­plet­ing his infu­sion we had learned a great deal about him. He loves bowl­ing (and has his own bowl­ing ball), Dr. Pep­per, ice cream, and his favorite TV show is ​‘The Young and The Restless.’”

As treat­ment con­tin­ued, Mar­shall not only had the sup­port of his med­ical team, he also found the sup­port of his com­mu­ni­ty. Sev­er­al months ago, Rhea Flam­beau, a fam­i­ly mem­ber who owns and oper­ates Blue Line Pres­sure Wash­ing out of Carthage, IL, con­tact­ed the Wood­side fam­i­ly and asked about doing a t‑shirt and sweat­shirt fundrais­er to bring aware­ness to MS. He want­ed the dona­tions to go to a place of family’s choos­ing. The Wood­side chose the QMG Foundation.

The fundrais­er raised $500 and was matched by an anony­mous donor to raise a total of $1,000 which will help alle­vi­ate the finan­cial bur­dens faced by patients. The Wood­side fam­i­ly want­ed to give back to QMG as a way to help others.

Among those pur­chas­ing shirts was the QMG Infu­sion Cen­ter team. Britt said the team was hon­ored to have cared for Marshall.

She shared, ​“Our Infu­sion Team is blessed to have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to care for him and his family.”