Kindness of a stranger benefits teen By Cammi Clark

Kindness of a stranger benefits teen Lysander man reads about girl needing surgery, gives her $1,000 toward costs.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

By Cammi Clark Staff writer

A stranger knocked on the door of Jessica Musone's Syracuse home Saturday.

After a five-minute conversation with the teen, who has the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis,
Bill Hesler handed the family a check for $1,000.
He told them he had seen a Post-Standard article last Thursday about Jessica, 13, needing
surgery to remove a tumor from her face, and he wanted to help.
"She had a need and it looked like she had a way to go before she would get to her goal. I
looked at my situation and I could help, and I thought instead of buying another toy for myself I
would help," Hesler said Tuesday.
Hesler, 50, works as a quality program manager at Lockheed Martin and lives with his wife and three sons in Lysander.
Tammy Musone, Jessica's mother, said last week that she believed their health insurer would
not cover the $25,000 surgery.
On Tuesday, she said, she learned the insurer would cover about $4,500.
The second part of the two-part surgery is Feb. 5.
Nina Albino, executive director of Charity for Children, a nonprofit group in Cicero that paid for
Jessica's first visit with the surgeon, said she has received about $150 in donations for Jessica.
And many people, including some of Jessica's schoolmates at Grant Middle School, have
pledged to join the charity's walk-a-thon Saturday in Cicero.
The money raised there will help many children, not just Jessica.
"This is wonderful," Tammy Musone said.
Cammi Clark can be reached at cclark@syracuse.com or 470-6005.