GoFundMe set up for Highland coach who’s battling COVID-19, kidney failure

Highland school families are raising money to support a coach who is now facing a COVID-related transplant crisis.

Deryl Cunningham of Glen Carbon is Highland High School’s varsity basketball coach. Last week, he tested positive for COVID-19, and unfortunately, the coronavirus aggravated other underlying health concerns, according to HHS athletic director Amy Lynn Boscolo.

“Where COVID is no longer the concern, kidney failure is,” Boscolo said.

Cunningham has been placed on the emergency transplant list, and family members are traveling to town to find out if they are a match. In the meantime, Boscolo said, he has had surgery for a dialysis port, and is battling fluid around the heart and lungs.

Boscolo is organizing a collection of gift cards for Cunningham’s wife Maria, and children Ciara and Braylen, who have just been released from quarantine themselves, she said. She has also set up a GoFundMe to assist with medical costs. On a goal of $50,000, they had raised nearly $30,000 as of Friday afternoon.

Comments posted publicly on the GoFundMe call Cunningham “an amazing guy” who treated students with utmost respect.

“Coach Cunningham’s family would like to thank everyone that has said prayers and donated to his family,” Boscolo said. “They are forever grateful to everyone in Highland and beyond for their support during this time.”

Boscolo said doctors had hoped to let Cunningham recuperate at home after the surgery, but he has suffered complications and remains hospitalized for now.

Cunningham has been Highland High School’s varsity basketball coach for two years, though he is not a teacher in the district. He is a 1989 graduate of Westchester St. Joseph High School and attended Kansas State University, where he rose to No. 7 on the Wildcats’ all-time list in rebounds.

Before coming to Highland, he coached four years at Gateway Legacy Christian Academy in Granite City, where he led the program to an NCSAA national championship. He also spent four years as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, helping the Cougars to transition from NCAA Division II to a DI program.