By JACQUELINE DURETT
Correspondent
SAYREVILLE — William Scully Jr. may have moved from the borough, but his family is hoping the community where he grew up in will rally around him during his time of need.
Scully, a 32-year-old truck driver who attended Sayreville War Memorial High School, is living in Texas now, where he’s been for the past four years with his wife, Kathy, near Kathy’s family. Together they are raising three children, Zachary, 7, Keygan, 3, and Kaison, 6 months.
However, on Thanksgiving night, their lives changed completely, when Scully went to the hospital with unexplained symptoms. Soon after, he was diagnosed with leukemia.
“He thought he had had the flu,” explained Scully’s aunt Kelly Everitt, who lives in Pennsylvania.
Now doctors are trying to get Scully’s cancer under enough control to have him undergo a bone marrow transplant.
Everitt said her nephew needs support in paying medical bills and caring for his family, as he was the breadwinner. Kathy Scully is making two-hour trips each way to the hospital to be with her husband. According to a GoFundMe page for Scully, the family does not have any health insurance or savings.
“So we’re dong a fundraiser to help them with the costs of their monthly bills,” Everitt said.
That fundraiser will be held April 21 at T.G.I. Friday’s on Route 9 in Old Bridge. Diners who give their server a flyer for the fundraiser will have 20 percent of their bill go toward Scully’s expenses.
Everitt said this will follow one held at Texas Roadhouse in Old Bridge last month.
She said that while her nephew may live far away, his family, including his parents, are all living in Middlesex County. The family has close ties to Woodbridge, Laurence Harbor, and especially South Amboy, where Scully and many of his relatives would spend time at the RollerMagic roller skating rink.
Everitt said she hopes family friends and some of Scully’s Sayreville classmates might be interested in helping.
“That’s why we’re doing it in Jersey,” she said. “All his family is out here.”
Everitt asks that anyone attending the fundraiser pick up the flyer at the desk at the entrance so that servers know the diner is looking to have a portion of the bill contributed to Scully’s family. She also will be selling items to support the cause, items she said were purchased through a site that donates a portion of its proceeds to cancer research.
Everitt said those who cannot attend but are interested in helping can make a donation to the GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/5rcdh3x8, which is looking to raise $10,000.
