Reading Eagle

Stephen J. Kunitsky and his fiancee, Antonia Giannopoulous, last summer.

Berks County, PA - Stephen J. Kunitsky’s supporters knew they were fighting a persistent and vicious foe, but that didn’t slow them down one bit.

Kunitsky, 25, a 2001 Oley Valley High School graduate, was diagnosed in November 2006 with an aggressive disease called neuroendocrine cancer.

Rallying behind him, family and friends held various fundraisers to help pay for costly treatments that insurance would not cover. They ultimately raised about $36,000.

Despite their unwavering efforts, the cancer proved too powerful.

Kunitsky died Saturday in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia.

“It was much too fast,” said Charles S. Young of Oley, Kunitsky’s stepbrother. “There’s no reason someone 25 years old should have to go through what he did.”

During his battle, Kunitsky found himself with many supporters — none more passionate than a fourth-grade class at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School.

Becki Fidler Slotten was one of Kunitsky’s oldest friends, having met him when they were students at Oley Valley Elementary School. Today, Slotten is a Gov. Mifflin teacher.

As a school project in October, Slotten had students decorate jars and coffee cans and use them to collect “Coins for Kunitsky.” The intermediate school raised about $4,000 that was donated to the Stephen J. Kunitsky Fund.

On Tuesday, Slotten said she hadn’t been able to find the right words to tell the fourth-graders about her friend’s death, but that she hoped to do so soon.

While Kunitsky may have lost his fight, the battle against cancer goes on, and his supporters are determined to continue raising money for cancer patients and research.

“Steve kept saying that when he got better, he wanted to help other people,” Slotten said. “So, we’re going to keep going. That’s what we think he would have wanted us to do.”

Kunitsky’s wish, Young said, was to help others in the same situation.

“That’s how he was, he never worried about himself,” Young said of his stepbrother. “Through all of this, he always worried about how everybody else was handling his situation.”

 

Reading Eagle

Oley Valley High School students have raised more than $2,000 for a food bank and a former student battling cancer.

They awarded the money at a Friday assembly at the high school.

The school’s National Honor Society raised the most money in the Greater Berks Food Bank’s second annual “Buy a Pilgrim” fundraising campaign. The club sold pilgrim placards to fellow students and raised $1,000. Eight other Berks high schools participated.

The group met its fundraising goal, which forced Principal Darrell L. Markley, Assistant Principal Michael J. Flick and teachers Jason Moll, Rob Nye, Dan Schaeffer, John Small and Scott Snyder to kiss a cow at the assembly.

The students also raised $1,300 for 2001 Oley Valley graduate Stephen J. Kunitsky. He has neuroendocrine cancer and faces $215,000 in medical bills.

The students held a coin drive, sold leis at the homecoming dance and sold T-shirts.

Two other Oley Valley graduates who battled cancer also donated money to Kunitsky.

Ross T. McKently, a 2007 Oley Valley graduate, gave $1,000 from money the community raised for him several years ago when he was fighting cancer.

And Andrew T. Henderson, a 2001 Oley graduate, raised $1,200 in a fundraiser at his business, Margherita Pizzeria in Ruscombmanor Township.

“We all kind of stepped up and did what we can do,” high school art teacher Stacy Olexy said. “He’s one of our own.”

The Kunitsky T-shirts are available by e-mailing Olexy at solexy@ovsdpa.org.

A basket bingo fundraiser for Kunitsky will be held at the Oley Valley Fairgrounds Sunday at 11 a.m.
 

Reading Eagle

9/30/2007
Gov. Mifflin 4th-graders rally for a friend in need
A classroomful of fourth-graders organize a fundraiser to help their teacher’s childhood pal, who is battling an aggressive form of cancer.
By David Mekeel
Reading Eagle

Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy Becki Fidler Slotten is getting lots of help and support from her fourth-grade students at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School.

Berks County, PA - Becki Fidler Slotten is on a mission to help a friend, and she’s getting some assistance from the Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School.

Slotten, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, has found herself face to face with a killer.

Stephen J. Kunitsky, a friend since their days at Oley Valley Elementary School, was diagnosed in November with an aggressive form of cancer called neuroendocrine cancer.

The news came as Kunitsky, a 2001 Oley Valley High School graduate, was just three weeks from graduating from the Delaware County Municipal Police Academy.

For the past year, Kunitsky has fought the disease, but it has been costly. The 24-year-old Philadelphia resident learned that his new insurance company wasn’t going to cover treatment.

“He’s already in debt about $25,000,” Slotten said. “And he’s going to have more bills to pay.”

Every scan he goes through costs $20,000, and every day in the hospital costs $5,000.

Knowing that Kunitsky would need all his strength to continue the battle, Slotten and Kunitsky’s brother, Charles Young, decided to help.

They’ve started The Stephen J. Kunitsky Fund, an effort to raise as much money as possible for treatment.

With their teacher’s friend in need, Slotten’s students at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate couldn’t help but throw themselves into the fundraising effort.

Starting today, classes throughout the building will start a “Coins for Kunitsky” drive. Using coffee cans and empty jars, the students will collect as much spare change as they can.

The effort by the students and his friends has overwhelmed Kunitsky.

“They’ve gone above and beyond,” he said Sunday. “A friend couldn’t expect any more out of good friends. I’m thrilled with what everyone has done. There are so many people reaching out to me.”

Some of Slotten’s students are so excited about the project that they’ve gotten a head start.

Joseph Teson, 9, said he and some friends handed out fliers in his neighborhood.

“I gave them to people I know are helpful, so I think I have a good chance of getting some money soon,” he said.

Jaylyn Paredes, 9, also has distributed fliers. She said her interest in the project is simple.

“We’re trying to help him pay his bills,” she said. “I want him to get better. He’s going to feel very happy when we help him.”

Frequent hospital visits haven’t allowed Kunitsky to visit the Mifflin classroom, but the students have sent him letters. And, sometime soon, Kunitsky will be sending them a video diary, including clips of his dog, Bubba, doing tricks.

“We’ve all been eager to see that,” Teson said.

And Kunitsky is eager to interact with the kids. He said that their letters were the first he received and he wants to do whatever he can to show them how much their help and support have meant to him.

“I don’t even know any of these kids and they’re just going over the top for me,” he said.

While he admitted the financial help is much needed and appreciated, Kunitsky said the most important thing about the fundraising efforts is knowing people are there for him.

“Just having the support is more important to me than the money,” he said. “It’s more important than anything.”

•Contact reporter David Mekeel at 610-371-5014 or dmekeel@readingeagle.com.

Cape Gazette

Estelle Nuebling stands in front of WGMD with donations she has received so far. She plans to hold a yard sale, Saturday, Oct. 6, to benefit a cancer patient who is a friend of her son. Stephen Kunitsky, 24, grew up with Chris and was a normal young man until he learned he had a rare form of cancer. Now, Kunitsky has been dropped by his insurance company and is struggling not only to get better, but also to pay his hospital bills. He is now making regular trips to the hospital, walking with a cane and is on a respirator, said Estelle.

Estelle and Chris Nuebling are working to collect items for a region-wide yard sale to benefit a cancer patient.

Stephen Kunitsky, 24, grew up with Chris and was a normal young man until he learned he had a rare form of cancer. Now, Kunitsky has been dropped by his insurance company and is struggling not only to get better, but also to pay his hospital bills.

“He’s just a good kid and we’re trying to help him,” said Estelle, Chris’s mom, who has coordinated with local businesses for the yard sale. She is asking residents to donate just three things each to help raise money. Drop-off points includeWGMD radio station off Wil King Road in Angola, Pete’s Antiques on Route 9 near Harbeson, and Eastern Forklift locations.

Kunitsky lives in Philadelphia and is undergoing his treatments there.

According to his website, www.stephenjkunitskyfund.org, Kunitsky was about to graduate from Delaware County Police Academy in November 2006 when he found out he had neuroendocrine cancer. After radiation and chemotherapy, Kunitsky underwent surgery to remove a large lump in his neck. The doctors thought he beat it, but less than two months later, the cancer returned. He is now making regular trips to the hospital, walking with a cane and is on a respirator, said Estelle.

His family and friends are working on fundraisers from Pennsylvania to Maryland, asking the community for help while Kunitsky focuses on beating the cancer again.

“His focus needs to be fighting this cancer, not fighting insurance companies,” reads Kunitsky’s website. “If we can help to repay his debts and lessen his burden, we’ll have made a big difference.”

The yard sale is Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Sleep Inn on Route 1. Anyone who would like to donate larger items is asked to call Estelle at 302-542-5251 or Chris at 302-265-2452.

Contact Rachel Swick at: rswick@capegazette.com

The Philadelphia Inquirer

A fund-raiser to help cover medical costs for Stephen Kunitsky, 24, who suffers from neuroendocrine cancer, will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in the parking lot of A & G Family Restaurant, 615 S. Chester Rd., Swarthmore.

Kunitsky, of Eddystone, a recent graduate of the Delaware County Municipal Police Academy, could not start work because of the disease. His fiancée, Antonia Giannopoulos, is a 1998 Strath Haven graduate, lacrosse coach at Westtown School in Chester County, and daughter of the A & G owners.

The event will feature baked goods, a flea market, carnival games, a moon bounce and raffle prizes.

Donations can be sent to the Stephen Kunitsky Fund, c/o Susquehanna Patriot Bank, 46 W. Main St., Fleetwood, Pa. 19522, or made online at www.stephenjkunitskyfund.org.

For more information, call Mary Hahn at 610-608-0774.