DUI Lawyers in Piscataway, NJ

PISCATAWAY, NJ – The Piscataway Chiefs boys tennis team continued its dominant season with two key victories, while Javier Vazquez captured an individual golf title, highlighting a busy week for Piscataway High School athletics.

Boys Tennis Stays Perfect with Two Wins

The Piscataway Chiefs boys tennis team extended its undefeated record to 13-0 with two convincing victories.On Thursday, the Chiefs defeated Spotswood 5-0. Eric Lindsay at first singles (6-0, 6-0), Kristian Thaxton at second singles (6-0, 6-1), and Dev Ranipa at third singles (6-1, 6-1) all secured straight-set wins. The doubles teams also swept, with Frank Duan and Neev Gupta winning 6-1, 6-1 at first doubles, and Ibrahim Sheikh and Vasu Soni taking second doubles 6-0, 6-1.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, Piscataway downed Highland Park 4-1. Lindsay fought for a 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9) victory at first singles. Soham Gupta won at third singles 6-4, 6-2. The first doubles pair of Dev Ranipa and Arnav Patel triumphed 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (10-3), while Neev Gupta and Frank Duan secured second doubles 7-6 (7-2), 7-5. Highland Park earned its point at second singles, where Ethan Chen defeated Kristian Thaxton 6-2, 6-4.

Boys Golf: Vazquez Captures GMC Crown, Team Takes Fourth

At the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament on Thursday, the Piscataway boys golf team finished fourth with a team score of 317. Javier Vazquez earned the individual GMC title, shooting an impressive 71. Yanting Ren placed fifth with a 75, and Om Purani tied for 11th, carding a 77. Nasir El-Temawi (94) and Jackson Fox (97) rounded out the Chiefs' scores. Piscataway's team record stands at 13-2.

Baseball Falls in GMC Invitational Quarterfinal

The Piscataway Chiefs baseball team saw its run in the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational end in the quarterfinal round, falling to New Brunswick 3-1 on Saturday at North Plainfield High School. Pitcher Sumedh Shingala recorded 14 strikeouts in a complete-game effort but took the loss. Piscataway (5-12) scored its run in the third inning, with Jason Mann crossing the plate. Jason Hoffman led the Chiefs with two hits, and Justin Brown drove in the team's only run. Piscataway outhit New Brunswick 7-2. The Chiefs will host Highland Park on May 20.

Boys Volleyball Ousted from GMC Tournament

The Chiefs boys volleyball team’s season ended with a 2-0 loss to Old Bridge in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday. Old Bridge won the sets 25-10 and 25-12. For Piscataway (15-5), Vaughn Turner led with six kills and one block, while Muaz Jawad Ahmed Hussainy had 12 assists.

Flag Football Suffers Loss to Monroe

The Piscataway flag football team lost to Monroe 18-0 on Tuesday. Monroe established a 12-0 lead by halftime and added another touchdown in the second half. The defeat moves Piscataway's record to 1-7. The Chiefs next play New Brunswick at home on May 20.

Softball Drops Game to Woodbridge Magnet

Softball fell to Woodbridge Magnet 8-6 in a hard-fought game on Monday. The Chiefs (0-14) mounted a comeback attempt with four runs in the fifth inning. Samantha Venturi pitched for Piscataway, striking out eight batters, and also contributed two hits at the plate. Julianna Mena scored two runs, and Alisha Dhillon collected two RBIs for the Chiefs.

MyCentralJersey.com

In December 13-year-old Omar Danso started feeling sick. His mother planned to take him to the doctor, but, at the time, was not overly concerned. She chalked up his feeling ill to a food allergy or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

But when the Piscataway seventh grader couldn’t stop vomiting over a two-day period, she became alarmed and brought him to a nearby urgent care. By the next day, Omar was taken to the emergency room at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick with sky-high blood pressure. His parents then heard the news that shocked them − their son was in end-stage renal failure.

His kidneys had stopped working.

"I felt like I got the wind knocked out of me. I was not expecting that," said Jasmin Eversley-Danso, Omar’s mother. "I was shocked, and frankly devastated. I tried to stay out of the room so he didn’t see my reaction."

Omar needed a transfusion and immediately began dialysis, which filters the blood to do the job his kidneys could no longer do. He spent two weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit hooked up to a hemodialysis machine through a tube in his neck and taking multiple medications to bring his blood pressure down.

Omar is at home now and stable, but his fight continues. Omar needs a kidney transplant.

To raise awareness of Omar’s brave fight and about organ donation in general, the Danso family is hosting Omar Danso’s Day of Fun from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 26 at Riverside Park. The rain date will be April 27.

April also is National Donate Life Month.

"We really just want to have a day to celebrate how far we’ve come with him and do some walking and running around the park," said Eversley-Danso, who credits Schor Middle School counselor Nancy Arvizzigno and Piscataway Township Recreation Director John Tierney with helping her arrange the Day of Fun.

"There has been a very positive response to the event," Arvizzigno said. "And students haveshared that they miss seeing Omar in class."

Omar’s illness and absence have greatly impacted the Schor school community, from teachers and staff to students.

"Omar is a great person − he deserves a kidney," classmate Noah Jenkins said. "Please, someone out there, from the bottom of your heart, donate Omar a kidney."

Kari Hester, Omar’s science teacher at Schor, called him "a person of remarkable strength and resilience."

"Despite what he’s going through, he continues to demonstrate courage, determination, and a positive attitude," Hester said. "I am confident that with the support of his family and the community, he will overcome this obstacle and emerge even stronger and healthier than ever before."

Omar Danso’s Day of Fun will feature a 5K fun run and walk as well as a DJ, food and tables with health care information from NJ Sharing Network and Cooperman Barnabas Transplant Center in Livingston, to spread awareness and dispel myths about organ donation.

"People in the community may not understand the importance of donating organs or having it on their license and how many lives they can save," Eversley-Danso said.

There will also be stations for blood pressure screenings.

"That is what led us down this road," Eversley-Danso said. "If we didn’t know his blood pressure was so high, we wouldn’t have known anything else. I’d like to see people be more proactive in their health, and I don’t want to see anyone go through what we went through."

Eversley-Danso is working with Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, home of the top Northeast kidney transplant program, to find a donor and prepare for a transplant. She began going through the process of being tested for donation herself on April 2, which coincidentally is National Living Donor Day.

"We’ve come so far," Eversley-Danso said. "We just have to get to the transplant. I know thetransplant presents its own set of challenges. Judging by the laundry list of tests that I have togo through, and then depending on how many other people can come forward to start thattest, that’s going to take a little while."

A living donor is highly preferable to a deceased one, but all potential donors need to go through a battery of tests to see if they are suitable. Not only do they need to match Omar’s O-positiveblood type, but they must also be deemed healthy enough that a donation will not put them atrisk.

The transplant program at Cooperman Barnabas has a separate team of doctors, nurses, and social workers who look out solely for the interests of the donor.

There is also a way to donate, even if someone doesn’t match Omar’s blood type, through apaired donation. The transplant center can match another donor/recipient pair, so that a donorfor Omar can give a kidney to a different recipient, and a donor for that recipient can give akidney that is a match for Omar.

"I don’t have any hesitation about donating, but I do have other children, and I may not be acomplete match and may not be able to do what I want to do in my heart," Eversley-Danso said."So there may be someone else out there who is a better match for him or can donate on hisbehalf."

Anyone interested in finding out about becoming a living donor can confidentially email Cooperman Barnabas at cbmclivingdonor@rwibh.org, call 973-322-5346, or complete a donor questionnaire at cbmclivingdonor.org. Calling for information or completing a donor questionnaire carries no obligation to donate.Omar’s fight has been difficult on his family, but they have also found a new network of supportin Piscataway and the organ donation community.

"I’m hanging by a thread, honestly," said Eversley-Danso, a 2004 Piscataway High School graduate. "But surprisingly in the past few weeks, I’ve gotten this burst of energy. Maybe because we’re planning this event with his school counselor. This has completely turned our lives, but the more I talk about it with people, I realize this is bigger than just us. So many people are walking around having donated or are the recipient of a donation. Who knew?!"

While he waits for his transplant and his celebration day, Omar continues to fight like a champion.

"He has been so strong," Eversley-Danso said. "I can’t even imagine. When I was 12, I hadmy tonsils out and you would have thought I was dying. From being a normal 13-year-old, neverbeing sick or hospitalized, to really fighting and telling me, 'I want to be alive, I want to be here.'We do his dialysis every night, and he doesn’t complain about it. We’ve come very far and hehas amazed me."

Omar is using peritoneal dialysis, a gentler form of dialysis for children, that uses the peritoneum, the lining of the abdomen, to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood. He is hooked up each night at home through a catheter in his abdomen, and the machine does its work while he sleeps.

In between his treatments and his medications − now down to two after leaving the hospital onnine medicines − Omar enjoys playing games, cuddling with his dog, a Cavapoo named Peanut,and keeping up with his schoolwork through virtual Zoom lessons.

PISCATAWAY – The township Board of Education has tapped a veteran school administrator as the district’s interim superintendent.

Johanna Ruberto, a former award-winning superintendent in Manville, will become Piscataway’s interim schools chief to begin April. She was appointed by the school board at its March 13 meeting.

Ruberto, the Somerset County Superintendent of the Year in 2014, is replacing Superintendent Frank Ranelli who is leaving at the end of March to become the superintendent of the Lower Merion School District, an affluent suburb on Philadelphia's Main Line west of the city.

“Our Board is happy to name Dr. Ruberto to lead our district through this transitional period,” said Board Vice President Nancy Salgado-Cowan who is leading the search process. “She is a proven educator and administrator with many years of experience. As a Board, we are excited to work with Dr. Ruberto to ensure that all district programs continue without interruption.”

Ruberto served as full-time superintendent in Manville from 2009 to 2014. Since retiring, she has worked as an interim superintendent in six districts. She has a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University, a master’s degree from Rider University and a doctorate from Seton Hall.

“I’m excited,” Ruberto said after her appointment. “Piscataway is a good, strong district. I did a review of the academics, and my husband and I have driven around town. It’s a clean, beautiful town, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Ruberto said she has a formal transition plan to get the district ready for the new permanent superintendent and that she will be very visible in the schools.

“I’ve already had a conversation with Dr. Ranelli, and we have a meeting scheduled for next week to go through the formal transition plan,” she said. “My first priority would be to visit the schools and meet my children, and I will compose a letter to the kids, too. They need to know there’s a change. That’s important. I think we’re in a good place right now.”Since 2015, Ruberto has worked as an interim superintendent in South Plainfield, Hunterdon Central, Flemington-Raritan, Califon, Clinton, Dunellen, and most recently Madison in the 2023-24 school year.

“I’ve been in large districts, and I’ve been in very small districts,” she said. “In each one, I quickly assessed the district, maintained the traditions and history of the district and tried to influence the culture for the new superintendent.”

Salgado-Cowan said the Board has already begun the process of searching for a permanent superintendent, with the New Jersey School Boards Association assisting in the search. That search is expected to take about six to nine months.

“With Dr. Ruberto’s appointment completed, we can now turn our full attention to the searchfor a full-time superintendent,” she said, “which is one of the most important responsibilities aBoard has.”

Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com

Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.