Beaufort community raises $50k to support baby undergoing cancer treatment. How to help
For some, it takes a village. For others, it takes a crew.
The Beaufort community is coming together as both on Saturday for one of its youngest residents: Crew Feltner.
Crew, 9 months old, was diagnosed in May with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and, since June, has been undergoing treatment for the most common type of childhood cancer.
“His diagnosis was obviously very shocking and sudden,” Crew’s mother, Ellie Feltner, said.
In the spring, she and her husband, Kevin, noticed bruises on Crew’s legs that weren’t fading.
“Everyone was telling me not to worry about it saying, ‘He’s just a little boy,’ but it did worry us,” Feltner said.
On May 29, the Feltners took Crew to the emergency room. Almost instantly, their lives completely changed.
Lab work showed leukemia. Crew was quickly transported by helicopter to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. His parents couldn’t go on the helicopter with their son, so they hurried to the hospital separately.
By the time Crew reached the hospital, his hemoglobin levels had dropped to 5.0, Feltner said. Once it’s below that level, the body starts to shut down because the brain isn’t getting enough oxygen.
“I’m glad we went to the hospital when we did,” she said, “because otherwise, we might have woken up to a nightmare.”
Crew’s chemotherapy treatment began the next morning. The ongoing treatment keeps the family in Charleston — Crew in his room and his parents on cots at night— for eight weeks at a time before they can return to Beaufort for one week. Then the cycle starts again.
This time, Feltner said, has been a “blessing and a curse.”
Right after Crew was born, the couple were sad about the likelihood of missing a lot of their son’s “firsts” since they both work full time. Feltner is a hair stylist at Bangs Salon in Beaufort, and her husband, a former firefighter, works in cabinetry.
“Now, God has blessed us with the opportunity to be with our son so much so that we don’t even miss a dirty diaper,” Feltner said with a laugh.
Crew is an extremely happy baby, she said, always babbling. He smiles as soon as you look at him. He’s growing teeth, learning to crawl and pull up on things to help him stand. One of his favorite activities is riding a little bike around the hallways of MUSC.
“His happy spirit has been the best medicine through this for us,” she said.
But along with the emotional and physical toll of Crew spending the first months of his life in the hospital, there’s a financial toll.
So in typical Lowcountry fashion, friends organized a golf tournament to help.
“It’s crazy how trauma and scary things in your life brings you closer to God,” Feltner said. “We couldn’t handle it without Him and without all of these people willing to bless us. He obviously won’t remember this, but we can’t wait to show Crew when he’s older all of the positive things that came out of this situation.”
Crew’s Cup
Chris Edenfield, a family friend and Beaufort Realtor, and his wife, Allie, came up with the idea to host the inaugural “Crew’s Cup” charitable golf tournament and brought others on board, including Feltner’s father, to make it happen.
Edenfield said about $50,000 has already been raised through team registrations, sponsorships and donations.
“The community outreach has been incredible,” he said. “The idea just kind of exploded.”
Thirty-six teams of three will compete Saturday at the Olde Beaufort Golf Club with a 9 a.m. start time. An awards ceremony and after party with live music, food, and drinks are scheduled to follow. The public is welcome to all of the events, where donations will still be accepted. Donations can also be made through GoFundMe.
“This gives you a sense of pride in the community to say you live in an area that cares about each other and is willing to do anything to help those in need,” Edenfield said. “We hope this is going to be something that will carry on for years and years.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 2:39 PM.
