Schueler’s Legacy Lives on at St. Pat’s
December 3, 2009

On Nov. 16 Matt Schueler and his son Joe paid a special visit to Saint Patrick High School’s football awards program to present the 2009 Heart of the Shamrock Award to senior Matt Dawson (St. Mary of the Woods), sophomore Guy DiBalsamo and freshman Anthony Cannella. The Schuelers were honored to bestow the award, which was established by St. Pat’s Athletic Department last year in memory of Schueler’s son Hank. A freshman at St. Pat's, Hank died in December of 2007 as a result of a rare fungal infection (zygomycosis) he contracted while undergoing chemotherapy for relapse of a rare form of cancer, known as Hypodiploid Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or "HALL".

The Schueler family along with many friends has remained active at St. Pat’s providing the school with a financial aid endowment of $100,000 through the Henry Schueler 41 & 9 Foundation, a foundation named after Hank that provides research funding for pediatric high risk leukemia and the fungal infections that often accompany the disease.

The Schuelers were also proud to present the first 41 & 9 scholarship to area resident Dennis Lemke (Queen of All Saints). Dennis is a junior at St. Pat's who plays both football and baseball, two of Hank's favorite sports. Dennis played against Hank in grade school and on a local traveling baseball team, the Edgebrook Bulldogs. He is a talented student who is taking a heavy honors caseload in addition to his athletic participation. Each candidate for this scholarship was chosen on the basis of monetary need at St. Pat’s in order to qualify for an interview with members of the 41 & 9 Board of Directors. The award is given to those students who best exemplify Hank's enthusiasm for life, athletic competition and academic excellence. Each of this year's four candidates were very well-qualified and the competition was very strong. Dennis will receive the financial Award during his junior and senior years.

The 41 & 9 Foundation has already initiated two research projects including the first geonomic analysis of HALL led by Dr. Charles Mullighan (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) and Dr. Steven Hunger (Denver Children's Hospital). This project will complete gene analysis of samples from patients with three different forms of this rare leukemia to confirm genetic differences that could lead to new treatments. This project is scheduled to be completed in 12 months or by the end of 2010.

The second project is The Henry Schueler 41 & 9 Foundation Forum on Zygomycosis. Scheduled for Jan. 20, 2010, the Chicago seminar will be chaired by Dr. Thomas Walsh (Chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease for the National Institutes of Health). Walsh has invited some of the world’s leading fungal infection experts to collaborate in a joint-effort to create guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this emerging and life threatening infection that attacks patients whose immune systems are weakened by chemotherapy treatment. They will then submit their work for publication in Hank’s memory. Local area pediatric clinicians and researchers will also be invited to attend. For more info on the 41 & 9 Foundation, visit henryschueler.org.