Mom recalls outpouring of generosity for child
14 years ago, Jackson community rallied for cancer-stricken youth
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

JACKSON — There are a lot of wonderful people in Jackson.

That was the comment made by Linda Sienkiewicz, who lived in Jackson for 20 years before moving away, as she reflected on the past and the support she received through some very hard times.

“Jackson is a very giving town,” she said in an interview last week, “more than any other town I’ve lived in.”

Focusing on her children, particularly her daughter, Jeanine Joyce, a former Goetz Middle School student who became ill with brain cancer in 1992, Sienkiewicz said she has asked herself how she could have made it through those difficult years without the help and encouragement of friends, neighbors and people she never knew.

“I have four children and a stepchild,” she said. “We were involved in every part of the school district. For one reason or another, every child was in a different school.”

Sienkiewicz, a Sunday school teacher in Howell, was also involved in Scouting and other activities in Jackson at the time.

“People in the community knew of us,” she said. “My children were all within four years of each other and were involved in several community activities.”

In 1992 when Jeanine, who was in the sixth grade, was diagnosed with brain cancer, people from every school in Jackson came out to give her support.

Sienkiewicz said her family did not have health insurance and to add to the aggravation, the family had to move, a family business faltered and the cost of Jeanine’s treatment reached $150,000.

That is when the community rallied support for one of its own.

“There was a man, Fred Imperio, at Howell Lanes in Howell, who ran fundraisers [to help support the family], and Alan Poland, a wrestler in Jackson, promoted a huge wrestling match, with top wrestlers participating at the high school,” Sienkiewicz said.

She said a sign was placed in a local supermarket which proclaimed “Jackson loves Jeanine” and people purchased pins in support of her daughter.

Children and teachers pulled together. Donations and fundraising breakfasts sponsored by civic groups and by churches all helped out. The Jackson Police Department made Jeanine its poster child of the year and gave the family a large donation to help pay the bills.

“The Goetz Middle School came with about eight cars, a trailer with a Christmas tree, and James Santiago, the gym teacher (now retired), was dressed up as Santa Claus,” Sienkiewicz recalled. “There was an assistant principal, Linda Brown, who came and sang songs for Jeanine.”

Sienkiewicz said Jackson school administrator Peggy Hengel gave her money. People brought toys and the police escorted the entire entourage into Jeanine’s house and danced with her. At one point before Jeanine started treatment, a donated limousine took the youngster to Radio City Music Hall, FAO Schwartz and Tavern on the Green in New York City.

Sienkiewicz said her daughter was not expected to live for more than a year. Complications and surgeries made the youngster’s cancer treatments more difficult, she said.

But Jeanine kept going.

“As years progressed the township continued to help us,” Sienkiewicz said. “People wrote letters [giving support and telling] us to make sure we did not quit.”

The people in Jackson were the catalyst that ignited the spark which inspired people in other towns to reach out to the family. The family’s supporters included an 84-year-old man from Toms River who sent corny jokes that could be read to Jeanine as she was receiving chemotherapy.

Agencies in Howell and numerous people in Toms River reached out to the family with fundraisers.

At the Prince of Peace Church, Howell, where James Pierce, pastor, conducted services, an unidentified member of the congregation donated $5,000 for Christmas gifts, rent and numerous bills.

“Jeanine was diagnosed on Nov. 4, 1992, and it was supposed to be our last Christmas together as a family,” Sienkiewicz said. “Someone just called me that I haven’t heard from in 10 years and she said every time she bumps into somebody she is asked about Jeanine, whether she is still alive or did she die.”

Well, as it turns out, this story has a happy ending.

Sienkiewicz told her friend that Jeanine is still here, although there is no reason to explain why she is alive today except for God’s mercy. She said doctors at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia still cannot explain how Jeanine survived. They are studying her case to see why she is the only child who survived the type of cancer she had.

Today, Jeanine, 25, is looking at her future with hope after years of medical therapy. She is engaged to Lou Chilston, 26. The couple expect to be married in December 2007.

As she makes plans for a future, Jeanine, who is also a Sunday School teacher, is worried about Lou, who will be going to Kuwait with his naval unit. Today, Jeanine is on a committee in her church that reaches out to families who have children who are ill.

“Not a year goes by that my sons and my daughter do not sit and recall the generosity, the kindness and the prayers of all of the people,” Sienkiewicz said. “A lot of these people were young children [at the time] who gave up their Saturdays and Sundays to collect money and gifts for Jeanine. That thoughtfulness and kindness have never been forgotten. We could not have gotten through the darkest part of our lives without everyone’s help.”