Community raises nearly $200,000 for pediatric care

MATTAPOISETT – More than 500 people packed the Bay Club for the third annual Fearons Celebration – a fundraiser for the Southcoast Health pediatric department.

The fundraiser is organized and hosted by Jill and George Fearons, and was inspired by the care they received from Southcoast Health doctors and facilities when their son Jack had to be treated for chiari malformation, a condition in which the brain tissues grows into the spinal canal.

As of Saturday night’s gala, the Fearons had helped raise $198,000 this year, all of which is donated to Southcoast Health.

“That’s remarkable,” Jill said. “[Donors] have made an unbelievable difference to the children on the South Coast.”

In 2016, a little under $100,000 was donated and in 2017 it jumped to a little over $150,000.

“By the time November comes, we will have raised over $500,000 for South Coast pediatrics,” Jill said.

Additionally, at the gala Southcoast CEO Keith Hovan announced the renaming of the pediatric unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford after the late Yarmouth K-9 Sgt. Sean Gannon, who was killed in action in April.

Gannon, a New Bedford native, was born at St. Luke’s and both his parents work with Southcoast Health.

“These events are what create community,” Hovan said. “And [Gannon] understood community.”

Also in attendance were local legislators, including U.S. Representative Bill Keating.