A Promise to John…

I am writing to you as the mother of John Lewis Keller. As you know, John died August 22, 2008. He was only 25 years old.

It is important that I right a wrong that John made me aware of when he was hospitalized in May of this year. I need your help Please!

Ben (my husband) and Celia (John’s wife) left John’s hospital room to view the latest MRI, this time of his spine and consult with the oncology radiologist. I didn’t know this would be my last serious conversation with my son. He began with “the one thing everyone takes for granted and I have not had, is good health.” I agreed with him and tried to lighten the conversation by reminding him of all the amazing things he had accomplished in spite of his severe dyslexia and Crohn’s disease. Like any mother, I reached back to age 6 when we won 1st Place at the North Georgia Swim League Championship meet in the 25 yard backstroke. John well represented Mountain Park Swim Team that day!

I talked about his still standing record for the most consecutive pull-ups done by a 5th grader at Greater Atlanta Christian School, and the fact that as a gymnast for Atlanta School of Gymnastics he won 1st place overall in the Men’s USA Championship in 1997, class 6, age 12 and above. Despite his periodic outbreaks of Crohn’s, he wrestled on the GACS wrestling team and amazed his coaches with his ability to become unpinned! John jump-started their pole vault program with the hiring of coach Cook Holliday, breaking the long standing school record and being the Captain of the pole  vaulting team. I reminded him he had lettered in both wrestling and pole vaulting.

At this point John changed the subject to academics. “I regret never getting the recognition I deserved for all of my hard work in school. I would study for days for a test and got a “B”, when my friends would be out having fun, hardly cracked a book, and made an “A”. It would take me two days to write a paper that someone else could write in 30 minutes,” he said.

John knew I was aware of his constant struggles, all of the note cards, reading out loud and constant tutoring. I tried to reassure him of the admiration and respect we had for  him and how many people he had influenced with his demonstrated dedication and focus. We knew what it took for him to excel.

I reminded John of Celia’s pride in him for what he had accomplished and his strong positive attitude. Somehow my words sounded shallow in light of the fact that he knew his cancer had metastasized to his brain and was now in his spine.

John never asked us, “Why me?”. Throughout his struggles with severe dyslexia diagnosed in first grade, and Crohn’s disease which was diagnosed at age fifteen, he never asked “Why me?”. He just went on. He was put on complete gut rest for six weeks; he took the SAT with and IV in his arm and the fluids in his back pack. He just went on. He was hospitalized six times for Crohn’s flare ups. He just went on.

The highest mountain for John came one week after graduation from Emory University. He was told that a mole, recently removed from his shoulder, was a malignant melanoma.

John ran out of time before he could realize some of his dreams for the future; he wanted to buy a house and raise a family. Yet at the top of his list he managed to check off three very important goals; graduation from Emory University with a degree in English and a minor in Sociology, marrying Celia Pezzi and getting that great job at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. John didn’t get the recognition he deserved for a life filled with constant obstacles, where he gave his all in his valiant fight for life and refused to lose his faith in God.

The desire to give a child everything he or she wants (within his or her best interest) is ingrained in every parents heart. I wasn’t able to give John what he yearned for near the end of his life. You must know how this breaks my heart.

In an attempt to rectify this wrong, it is necessary for me and my family to do something for children that face severe health problems and/or difficult learning disabilities; children that go on in spite of being unrecognized for their hard work in academics. They may not be the students with the highest grades, but they will be the students working the hardest to overcome disability that makes it so much harder for them to compete with their peers.

To accomplish this goal, we have set up a memorial fund at John’s beloved Oxford college of Emory University. This endowment will be used to award a deserving Oxford  sophomore – one who has shown excellence in participation and endurance in working through his or her disabilities – with a scholarship every year. John Lewis Keller was neither awarded nor recognized for these accomplishments of his own. With your help we can be assured that other young deserving students do get the recognition they  deserve.

Our goal is to raise enough money to create a permanent award of $2,500.00 per school year. We hope that you will recognize the need to acknowledge these students. I could be talking about your son or daughter or perhaps your grandchildren. These are students who have gotten accepted into a school of excellence with no exceptions made for their disabilities and no recognition of their tremendous efforts.

Please help us make dreams come true for other students with a one-time tax-deductible donation to:
John Lewis Keller Memorial Fund
Oxford College of Emory University
100 Hamill Street
Oxford, Georgia 30054

Thank you, and may God bless you and your families.

Sincerely,

Dr. and Mrs Ben Keller