Community rallies around family of dead MBTA worker
By Mary Kate Dubuss / Daily News Staff
Friday, April 1, 2005

FRAMINGHAM, MA -- It has been a rough few months since Obioma Nna was run down by a train at Medford subway station while working for the MBTA in late January.

     Nna's death left his wife, Glory, a widow and his five children fatherless. The accident has also stunned the local community that remembers Nna as an involved parent and friend.

     "I was shocked," said Stephe Dwyer, who taught Nna's 12-year-old son Chica martial arts and attended the same church as the family, Wayland's Celebration International.

     "I always saw him at karate. ... I knew him through church," Dwyer said.

     On Saturday, Dwyer and his fellow instructors at Nick Cerio's Kenpo, Karate and Jiujitsu will host a kick-a-thon to help Glory with day-to-day expenses.

      Earlier this year, Celebration International hosted a large fund-raiser, but that money has been set aside for the children, who range from preschool age to a middle school, and their futures.

    When Dwyer told the other instructors about the tragedy, they "were surprised. (We) felt (we) wanted to do something."

     Starting at 12:15 at the Waverley Street studio, experts and amateurs alike can pledge money per kick, sponsor kickers or simply make a donation for the Nna family.

     "It is a fun thing. You don't need to be an expert in any way," said Craig Seavey of Nick Cerio's.

     Usually, the studio does not organize fund-raisers, but Nna's sudden death compelled them to put together the kick-a-thon.

     "Obi was very much involved," Seavey said.

     "We don't do a kick-a-thon for anything," said Dwyer. "We felt it was the right thing to do, we wanted to help out."

     Recently, Seavey even turned down an opportunity to do a fund-raiser with Chuck Norris.

     Hopefully (the kick-a-thon) will be positive," for Glory and her children, Seavey said. "It is obviously a tragic time."

     Nna, 46, was a signal engineer with the MBTA who was killed while working on a frozen signal by an Orange line train near Wellington Station in Medford.

     Since his January death, the Framingham community has turned its grief into generosity. McCarthy Elementary School, which three Nna children attend, hosted its annual music program in honor of Nna and the PTO and school staff collected money for the family's immediate needs. Nna was on the school council for three years.

     Dwyer, Chica's instructor, said typically kick-a-thon events raise between $5,000 and $10,000.

     Although Chica was a student at Nick Cerio's for five years, Seavey said the child has taken a break from the sport since his father's death. Before the train accident, Nna had wanted Chica to take a break to get his grades up.