Mark of hope
Cancer research, toy drive press on in teen's name
Mark Staehely's influence continues to reach far and wide, extending beyond his annual toy drive for children sick in hospitals.
Because of a request he made days before he took a turn for the worse and died, scientific research on the cutting edge of medicine is being planned in his name.
(Sun-Times Media file photo)
The Mark Staehely Make Your Mark Foundation is supporting research at a major Chicago hospital for better treatments for neuroblastoma, the cancer that struck Mark and eventually took his life.
Staehely was a happy-go-lucky 12-year-old in the summer of 2000 when he began having some health problems that led to a diagnosis of neuroblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer.
Over the next six years, Mark kept his good attitude and selflessness through three surgeries, stem cell replacement, chemotherapy, blood and platelet transfusions, and many radiation treatments.
"Mark had more radiation treatments than any man, woman, or child in the history of the medical center," his mother, Sue Staehely, said.
About a week before Mark died in 2006, he made his mother promise two things: that she would keep his toy drive going and that she would raise as much money as possible for neuroblastoma "so that no other child would have to suffer."
The Christmas toy drive has continued, receiving more and more donations each year, and the foundation has since begun pursuing Mark's interest in developing better treatments for his cancer.
Dr. John Kalapurakal, the Children's Memorial Hospital radiation oncologist who had treated Mark for so many years, contacted Sue Staehely last year. In addition to treating patients, Kalapurakal conducts scientific research at his lab in the department of neurosurgery at Children's Memorial, with the department of radiation oncology at Northwestern University and the Department of Material Science and Engineering at Northwestern.
"I was Mark's radiation oncologist," Kalapurakal said, "and I knew him for quite a while. He was one of a kind. There was only one Mark. He was somebody who would impress you because of the kind of happy person he was, even when he was suffering.
"He was also really, really concerned about the other kids who had cancer. Children aren't expected to think about others, but Mark did."
Kalapurakal said the dedication of Mark's parents before and since his death has been considerable and impressive. The money his lab receives from the foundation goes solely to the research, he added.
Nanoparticles, Kalapurakal explained, are microscopic particles that can contain substances you put inside them. They have been used for a few years in electronics, cosmetics, chemical manufacturing, and as an antibacterial agent in food processing. They are also very hot in the field of cancer right now, used to detect some types of cancer and in the research stages of cancer treatment.
Kalapurakal said he hopes that might make them more susceptible to radiation damage with radiation therapy.
"We might then be able to use lower doses of radiation therapy," he said, "thus resulting in fewer side effects."
Kalapurakal said the research will begin next year in his lab and will take two to three years to finish.
This research is very important, he said, and he thanked the foundation for its support.
Kalapurakal said he is often asked why he would become an oncologist, which is often thought of as depressing.
"I became an oncologist and do research to make a difference where it really matters," he said. "What we have is not enough. There are too many children dying of cancer. You cannot but try."
For more information about the foundation, visit www.makeyourmark7.org. Donations can be made at the Web site or by sending to: Make Your Mark Foundation, 21005 Ron Lee Drive, Shorewood, IL 60404.
