Mark Staehely 1987 - 2006
Inspired cancer foundation
Young Shorewood man helped start Christmas toy drive, fundraising efforts
By Meg McSherry Breslin
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 9, 2006
Mark Staehely was an energetic, baseball-loving 6th-grader when a cancer diagnosis changed his life.
While angry at first, Mr. Staehely quickly channeled his emotion in a new direction, forming a foundation for other cancer survivors and launching a Christmas toy drive that bloomed into a major affair, touching thousands of lives.
Mr. Staehely, 18, died Tuesday, March 7, in his Shorewood home of complications from neuroblastoma. He had fought cancer for six years.
Mr. Staehely underwent dozens of rounds of chemotherapy and radiation and three stem cell transplants. He spent many days in pain from the cancer or from side effects of his treatments.
Yet the people he touched said he drew from a deep faith and a sense of purpose. Friends said he clearly wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people--especially fellow children battling cancer. They said he did so by sharing his famous humor and wit, and just by never giving up.
"He just completely amazed me with his thoughtfulness and the way he cared about the kids in this hospital," said Julia O'Malley Stepenske, his longtime nurse. "Everyone who met him was absolutely in awe of him. He stole every person's heart."
Mr. Staehely started the toy drive after spending Christmas in the hospital following his first stem cell transplant. Discouraged by the sadness he saw in so many patients then, he decided, at age 12, to do something about it.
His first event brought in a few hundred items. But it was so successful in brightening children's lives that word spread quickly. Soon, firefighters and school leaders from his Shorewood community were jumping in to help.
Last Christmas, organizers stopped counting after more than 12,000 toy donations came into Children's Memorial Hospital, an outpouring so huge the items could barely fit inside the hallways.
Mr. Staehely also started a foundation with his nurse O'Malley Stepenske, herself a cancer survivor. The foundation--dubbed SOCS for Staehely-O'Malley Cancer Survivor Foundation--has raised roughly $90,000 over the last few years for research and education into the challenges facing pediatric cancer survivors.
In fact, hospital officials have been so touched by his contributions that last year they gave him the George D. Kennedy Leadership and Service Award.
The American Red Cross also honored him recently with its Hometown Heroes Award.
His parents, Sue and Ray, supported their son's efforts.
"He has fought this courageously and barely without complaint and with a smile on his face," Sue Staehely said. "... He had no money. God knows he had no time, and he had no energy, and yet look at what he has done."
In addition to his parents, survivors include his brother, Michael; and his grandparents, Jennie and Wayne Irvin and Marion Staehely.
