Justin Stanton was an infant when his father was first diagnosed with the rare type of bone cancer known as osteosarcoma. Growing up in a family where cancer treatment was as normal as going to the grocery store, Justin didn't dwell on his father's condition. Instead, Justin and his family, which includes an older brother and younger sister, lived an active life with their father at the helm of all the adventures. "My dad had cancer all our lives. It was normal for us," says 17-year-old Justin. "We went on a lot of vacations and kept going. We didn't let cancer control our lives. We kept living."
Justin's father, Kenneth Stanton, passed away in mid-January at age 48. In the wake of his father's death, Justin kept true to his father's tradition of living for the moment-he gained valuable insight on coping with cancer by founding, organizing, and producing the Kenneth Stanton Walk for Cancer.
A few days after Justin was born in 1988, his father returned to the hospital to have his left leg amputated. With a prosthetic limb, Kenneth kept active. Justin remembers the plethora of family vacations. At Mount Sunapee Resort in New Hampshire, Kenneth relearned to ski. He even climbed the 3,165-foot Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, N. H.. From the Millennium New Year Disney cruise to seeing Star Light Express in London, Kenneth lived to entertain his family. "He would do whatever," Justin says. "Anything we wanted to do, even when he was tired, he'd do it."
One year after the amputation, a second tumor was found in Kenneth's left side. By the next year it had spread to his lungs. The night after lung surgery, he suffered a seizure, and the doctors found he had a primary brain tumor, independent of the osteosarcoma. The Stanton family came to think of the cancer as an uninvited houseguest they were forced to live with. So they learned to accept their situation and decided to get out of the house as much as possible. Kenneth never wasted any time questioning why cancer happened to him. He put his life into perspective and decided to make a difference in his community and have fun whenever possible.
When Justin was 10, Kenneth had surgery to remove the brain tumor, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Kenneth remained optimistic that he could beat cancer for the third time. He returned home, and in a month, with some progressive physical therapy and a positive attitude, his bright smile and energy returned.
Justin adamantly believes in living a normal and productive life. "Don't change anything! Keep going on. Don't give up. And help out whenever possible. Don't let the cancer control you." The Stanton family took control of their situation. They dealt with disagreements like any family, but Kenneth knew exactly what to say to make his family smile.
Justin remembers his dad as down to earth, an easygoing man who had a good perspective on everything. This tranquil man's mantra was "Go with the flow." When Justin was worried about a final exam, Kenneth always knew how to calm his nerves. "My dad would sit me down and say, 'Relax, it's not a big deal.' In comparison, my little problems weren't a big deal. And he always reminded us of that." After his first brain surgery, Kenneth lost some of his peripheral vision. When Kenneth had to sell his dental firm, he didn't give up what he knew and loved. He became more involved on the board of directors at Nashua Dental Connection, a free dental clinic for less privileged children. He tutored math, reading, and writing at his daughter's school-Bicentennial Elementary. For many years, he was involved in Destination Imagination, a global volunteer program that promotes creative problem solving for children.
It's fitting that Kenneth chose a program where a team is given a problem and they have to work together for a solution-because that's how he lived his life. With the support of family, the Stantons didn't simply live with the cancer; they lived one step ahead of it. The Stantons were open and upfront about all the procedures. Justin attributes this open dialogue as the reason his family was able to live a normal life.
Justin attributes his close family relationship with the open dialogue that his family maintained. Even when the 3 Stanton children had a babysitter while their mother took Kenneth for chemotherapy, they were included in the medical conversations. Although they had little understanding of the situation, they learned to accept that their father was ill. Justin advises that lying to protect your children is a mistake. "Parents, tell your kids the truth. Kids can tell something's wrong. Lying to protect them can make the situation worse. Don't be in denial. Realize you have cancer. Get the best doctors. Let the doctors do their jobs and get on with your life."
When Justin was 15, 5 years after his dad's first surgery, he remembers going to Vegas for the second time. They walked the strip and relaxed at the hotel. They saw Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil. Justin overheard his dad casually talking about going in for a second brain surgery. When Justin asked, Kenneth told him the brain tumor returned, and he would need treatment in a few months.
The tumor affected his short-term memory, but after the surgery Kenneth's memory dissipated. "We had to watch him. He would turn on the oven to start to cook and then forget about it, leaving the oven on." A man who volunteered to read to children now needed his children to read to him. "My sister and I tried to teach him how to read again," Justin recalls. "He would pronounce the words slowly and get through a sentence, but by the time he finished, he would forget what it was about."
During the day, while the family was at work and school, Justin's grandparents took Kenneth on walks and spent time with their son-in-law. When Kenneth was no longer responsive to chemotherapy and radiation, his doctor recommended an experimental drug. It had no effect, and Kenneth's condition progressed. The doctors did all they could. "My dad's death was a surprise. When he went for his second surgery, 2 years ago, I thought he would bounce back like he did the first time. If anyone was going to beat cancer, it would be my father." Kenneth, against the odds, resiliently fought to live.
After surviving 16 years of surgery and intense cancer treatment, the doctors at Dana Farber were out of options. Justin wants to change that.
"When my dad died, I didn't want to be one of those people who just sits back, reminiscing how it could have been different. I didn't want to just sit around-I wanted to do something about it."
The apple fell close to this tree. Justin has the same tenacity and drive as his father. He has been in the Boy Scouts since the first grade and is finishing up as an Eagle Scout. It's something, he says, that "shows commitment. To become an Eagle Scout, you can't give up," he explains. And that's certainly the attitude of the Stanton family.
Since his Eagle Scouts project had to be community based, Justin created a fund-raiser in his father's name. While other Eagle Scouts were building sheds and creating park paths, Justin carried on his parents' community service torch. His mom is a participant in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), the nation's original bike-a-thon. Each year, the PMC raises more money than any other sports fund-raiser, and every dollar made goes directly to the Jimmy Fund, a charity organization dedicated to raising the survival rates for children and adults with cancer all over the world. With his interest in business and his family background in volunteering, Justin knew he wanted to do a fund-raiser. First, he had to decide between doing a bike-a-thon or a walk-a-thon. "I chose to do the walk because everybody could do it," he says.
The event raised money for the Massachusetts General Hospital's Cancer Research Center, specifically for osteosarcoma, a rare and lesser-known form of cancer. Osteosarcoma affects less then 2% of the population, but nearly half of the patients are about the same age as the students walking the halls with Justin at Bishop Guertin High School.
Less then a month after his father's death, this mature, composed 17- year-old took control of a small part of a disease that seizes more than a million people a year. Justin found comfort in action. He wanted to continue to do everything in his power and not let himself become a victim of his father's cancer. "It was good that I kept busy. Between my lawn service, Scouts, studying for the SATs, school, and planning the walk, I didn't have time for anything else."
With a schedule that would exhaust a corporate executive, Justin committed himself to creating and coordinating the Kenneth Stanton Walk for Cancer. "I knew putting together the walk would be a big task, and we would have to do it in a short period of time. There was no deadline to get the walk-a-thon done, but I wanted to have it before the end of school so we wouldn't lose contact with kids at my and my sister's schools, since that's whom most of the participants were." Justin met with the city to map a route.
Since his high school did a walk-a-thon each year, he decided that they could use the same area-Mine Falls Park in New Hampshire. He obtained permits from the police department, the fire department, and Nashua High School so that the group could use the parking lot for an after-walk barbeque. The permits took until April to process. The event was planned for June, which left Justin with very little time. He went to his friends for help. He organized a committee of students and delegated the workload. "Delegating was the most challenging aspect of organizing the walk. I know what I want. And I wanted to do everything, but I couldn't." Close friend Ashley Smith was in the midst of collecting money for the Jimmy Fund when Justin recruited her for the walk. With a dedicated team, Justin concentrated on fund-raising the fund-raiser.
He put together a mailing list of cancer donators from his mother's work with the PMC and combined it with the network of doctors treating his father. Counting family and friends, he mailed more than 200 letters in hopes of raising money. He was surprised by the high level of contribution. Envelopes stuffed his mailbox with checks totaling close to $7,000.
He wrote letters to politicians. He got a lot of interest, including a response from President George W. Bush's event coordinator. Massachusetts senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg all expressed support. U.S. Representative Charles Bass checked yes on the RSVP. Justin organized two general boards to make independent decisions, one comprised of students and the other of enthusiastic adults, and with political and financial support the walk was beginning to run.
Justin turned his focus on the community. Each walker had to raise a minimum of $100 to participate in the walk. "We set a minimum to show we were serious. Who isn't affected by cancer? And $100 is nothing when you think about it. Each person can easily get that by going to neighbors and family members for sponsorship." Justin knew he needed to get publicity for the event, so he designed a Kenneth Stanton Walk for Cancer T-shirt. The back read: "One Step Closer to the Cure." With the help of his older brother, Jonathon, and younger sister, Tiffany, Justin sold the shirts, plastered telephone poles with fliers, solicited supermarkets for food, scouted walkers, and sold raffle tickets to raise money for the walkers. Neighbors brought grills. Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Shaw's, and Shop and Save donated food. And Coca-Cola provided free beverages for the day.
On June 4, 2005, for the first Kenneth Stanton Walk for Cancer, 200 people tightened their laces at Mine Falls Park to walk 4 miles and raise more than $30,000 for cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital. A pack of gas grills lined the Nashua High School South parking lot. Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled, and bottles of Coke chilled in coolers. After the walk, many people approached Justin with their personal stories-from dealing with their own cancer to how Justin's father inspired them. "I knew cancer was one of those things that somehow affects everyone in some way. Until I put together the walk, I didn't know how many people were affected by my dad having cancer-old friends who knew him and were inspired to walk, and people who took care of my dad during the 17 years. Even a health insurance agent remarked that out of all the years she has worked with him and despite all the obstacles my dad faced, he was always upbeat and never complained about anything."
After months of dedication to the ambitious task of creating a large fund-raiser, Justin had the opportunity to take in some air while he walked alongside his mother, sister, and brother, displaying the memory of their husband and father over their hearts. "The walk was a success. There was so much interest from everybody, and with the addition of my mom's and grandfather's calls for help, we had too many volunteers. Charley Bass came. And all of the politicians want to get a picture with the giant check at the ceremony in August," Justin chuckles. "Not bad for having to rush to put the whole thing together. But I expect it to be bigger next year, since we'll have more time to plan."
Justin decided to make the Kenneth Stanton Walk for Cancer an annual event. He wants to expand the walk to Boston and New York. He has built a website to find volunteers and people who are interested in building a community of cancer cure advocates. See http://www.thestantonfund.org. In the future, Justin hopes that more money will be raised for cancer research. He envisions a large conglomerate campaign that may one day unite the nation in the fight against cancer. In Nashua, N. H., one college-bound high school senior took his first step for the cure.
For more information about this story, or details on how you can participate in the Kenneth Stanton Walk for Cancer, please contact Justin Stanton at Info@TheStantonFund.org
