Tue, Apr 26th, 2011 @ 12:00 am

The Visalia ASB, campus clubs and one student with a vision: this is all it takes to change the lives of a four-year-old boy and his parents.

When Megan Patterson chose to attend SJVC, she did not know that in the middle of furthering her education she would also be inspiring over $2,000 of support for some of her dearest friends.

Megan, a Respiratory Therapy student from Fresno, met four-year-old Donovan's aunt through their kids' shared Little League team and since then has developed a close relationship with his whole family. Throughout the growth of their friendship, Megan learned of Donovan and his medical struggles so when Megan became a student at SJVC and noticed that many clubs do fundraisers to help other in the community, she instantly thought of Donovan.

Four-year-old Donovan suffers from a tissue disorder so rare researchers have no name for it other than "Donovan's Disease." Donovan's best option was admittance to John Hopkins Medical Center, largely because the doctors needed a definite diagnosis to get any sort of prognosis. The financial burden on the family, however, was a roadblock to accomplishing this goal.

But Megan saw the opportunity. Megan started by requesting for approval for a monthly bake sale to support the family   so inspiring the Visalia ASB that the ASB challenged all active campus clubs to help Donovan get to John Hopkins Medical Center. All the clubs participated, adding to Megan's monthly bake sale with raffle-off gift baskets, super nachos sales at breaks and other unique fundraising efforts.

hanks to Visalia Campus Clubs, $2,132 was raised to send Donovan to John Hopkins. According to John Hopkins, there are over 200 connective tissue disorders and they are not sure what kind he has or whether this is an original disorder. However, they were able to run tests to rule out some tissue disorders.

More samples were taken from Donovan and in about two months hopefully results will rule out other tissue disorders as well.

Donovan and his parents were able to visit the Visalia Campus and meet the students that supported them. ASB club members who had the opportunity to personally meet Donovan stated that "Even though this little boy was going through so much, he still sat there and played with a smile on his face..."

Great job, Visalia Campus!