In Loving Memory
Moe passed away from complications of stem cell transplantation 200 days post transplant, surrounded by his family. He leaves behind his wife, two teenage daughters, his parents and siblings, and countless family and friends.
If you would like to support his family, please consider donating to the GoFundMe page the family has set up at the start of his transplant journey: https://gofund.me/7909aa8d
Here is what the family shared:
July 23, 2022
"We are starting a Go Fund Me with the recommendation of his Team.
It was recommended because this procedure is going to be financially difficult for Moe and Lauren. As a family we prepared by allocating and coordinating food shopping, electric bills, heating bills, future bills, etc. but not prepared for the astronomical costs involved for his month long chemo stay, the 35 daily oral medicines, co-pays and daily organ protection injections. The cost is projected to be well over $100K.
Moe is currently at Dana-Farber and in the process of a bone marrow transfer due to the development of Myelodysplastic Syndrome, which can develop into acute myeloid leukemia. Moe has been with Dana-Farber for well over 5 years and been anxiously waiting for this day to come.
The Post-Office will provide him with 6-weeks of salary but after that will be down to Lauren’s teacher salary and Moe's social security. Moe’s recovery will continue on for a year at minimum which means he can’t work for well over a year and until he can get his second round of childhood vaccinations. In fact, he can not eat anything other than frozen food and food prepped by Lauren.
History of our Moe:
Moe was born with Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome named by two doctors Diamond and Shwachman. For the first year of his life he lived in the hospital malnourished not being able to digest fats from foods and neutropenic (low blood cells). It was literally the grace of God that my parents crossed paths with a very special doctor at Children’s Hospital in 1982, Dr. Diamond.
At an early age, he was given a very short life expectancy. With the strength and doctor-like qualities our parents provided him, he made it through each and every single night sick and deathly and lived a fairly “normal” childhood.
There is just so much leading up to this moment and I could go on and on with past health trauma and the struggle of living with a disease such. Please know that as family we all had the understanding and knew that this was going to be the outcome should he live past the expectation of this disease. Although frightening and all other imaginable emotions involved, we are just so excited that when the bone marrow begins to build and new cells develop that he will NEVER have to worry about this form of bone marrow failure again.
One other important piece to this journey is that Moe has been blessed with two donors and they are 10/10 matches, his sister Tiffany and brother Joey. They have both stepped up and said YES without hesitation. Tiffany was chosen and is already prepped and ready for intake. Her 3-hour procedure of removing healthy cells from her body and giving them to Moe will happen on July 27th.
We thank you all so much and just so blessed to have such amazing friends and family supporting Moe. From the bottoms of our heart and bone marrows, we thank you ❤️"
February 4, 2023
"Day +192: A lot has happened since our last update. Moe’s transplant was going well; attending weekly, then monthly doctors appointments. Experienced minor GVHD of gut, but overall was going smoothly. About 3 weeks ago, just shy of 6 months post transplant, Moe started having some trouble breathing. Just assumed it was some congestion/ cold, but no fever. After a couple days, we went to the ER because it wasn’t getting any better. They diagnosed him with organized pneumonia; unsure what caused it though. After 3 days, he was moved to the ICU because he needed more supportive oxygen. He started getting better after a week, however, they think he may have then aspirated into his lungs, making it worst. On January 23, they decided to intubate him and put him on a ventilator. He was not making much progress, however, was stable. Yesterday, after being on the ventilator for almost two weeks, they decided he needed a tracheostomy. Although slow, he has made slight progress this week. The doctor said it’s going to be a long difficult road, and will probably get worse before it gets better, but they are hopeful that he will make a recovery. We cannot thank everyone enough for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We are so fortunate to have such a strong community behind us. #MoeStrong #TeamMoe"
Moe passed away surrounded by his family on February 12, 2023. He was 41 years old.
Maurice “Moe” Giordano III – Age 41, beloved husband of Lauren M. (Edie) Giordano died peacefully Sunday at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston with his family at his side.
He was born in Lowell, April 14, 1981, a son of Michelle Granfield of Billerica and Maurice Giordano Jr. and Laura Giordano also of Billerica. He attended Billerica Schools and graduated from Billerica Memorial High School in 2000.
Moe was blessed with a large and loving family and spent a lot of time together. He married his high school sweetheart and have been together the last 24 years. He was a wonderful dad to his two cherished daughters; always attending their activities, father-daughter dances, and making them feel special. Moe was employed as a Mail Carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Billerica for the past 22 years. He was so proud of working there and enjoyed seeing his post office friends and customers each day. Moe loved following sports, including the Patriots and Red Sox, collecting sport cards with his nephews, coin collecting with his brother, golfing with his friends, vacationing with his family, driving his Mustang Convertible, working in his yard, going to arcades & candy stores, watching movies, listening to country music, and playing with his dogs. He was always there whenever anyone needed a helping hand
Besides his wife and parents, Moe is survived by his daughters, Madison and Alexis Giordano of Billerica; his sisters, Melissa and her husband James Gaffney of Bedford, NH and Tiffany and her husband Michael Ostrander of Merrimack, NH; his brother, Joseph Giordano and fiancé Kerrianne Larson of Billerica; his maternal grandmother, Ruth O’Toole of Billerica, his mother and father-in-law Bob and Lorna Edie of Billerica, Brother and sister-in-law Shane and Tara Edie of Lunenburg, nieces and nephews James “JJ” and Stephen Gaffney, Joseph Giordano, Scarlette and Dominic Edie, and Andrew and Addison Ferola, and his fur babies Fenway, Jillette and Tuxy. He also leaves behind many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He is predeceased by his maternal grandfathers Stephen O’Toole and Joseph Granfield, paternal grandparents Maurice Sr. and Cecile Giordano, and brother-in-law Robert Edie Jr.