Community members pay it forward for local woman and teen battling cancer
Shannon Keith, a 47-year-old Lewes resident battling stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer, felt like a kid again as she watched Bryon Haupt carry the Christmas tree from the trunk of his car into her home.
“For a 47-year-old to feel in that instant like they were 5, it was joyous,” Keith said, her voice breaking as she began to cry.
She was diagnosed with cancer in early March this year, and after she entered hospice care a few weeks ago, her spouse, Michelle Kelly, decided to make this Christmas extra special for her. In early November, she began asking around to see if anyone had Christmas trees for sale yet, hoping to buy one to set up as early as she could.
Little did she know, one of Keith’s nurses, Ann Maher-Shapiro, posted about it on Facebook to spread the word, which eventually made its way to Haupt, owner of Coastal Christmas Trees. He immediately decided to help out, cutting down a tree to bring over and set up that same day – all for free.
Keith and Kelly insisted on paying Haupt for the tree, but he refused to take any money. Keith then decided to give him $100 to pay it forward to another person in need this holiday season.
“It’s the right thing to do, whether you’re struggling financially or you have a serious health issue,” Keith said. “There’s just something special about Christmas, at least for me, [and] having something as simple as a tree … [it] just made my day, made my life in that moment.”
“I kept telling them, I don’t want any credit for it,” Haupt said. “It’s just out of the kindness of our hearts. I’m part of the community, and I think in certain situations, that’s really what it comes down to, is giving back to the community that you live in.”
Haupt is working with longtime friend and owner of Millman’s Appliances, Gary Chorman, who told him about the initial Facebook post, to give back to another local family.
Haupt is doubling the money and contributing it to a raffle hosted by Chorman to benefit 16-year-old Sabrina Whilden, who’s battling metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma and is now in palliative care and hospice care.
“This, unfortunately, [may be] her last Christmas,” Chorman said. “We’re going to give this child the best Christmas we can.”
Whilden plans to put the money she raises toward arts and craft supplies for her second annual art supply drive. She’s collecting paint, markers, coloring books, bracelet-making kits and any other supplies to give back to teens and children at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington.
Her aunt, Stephanie Garnick, with whom she’s been living for the past few years due to her mother’s health complications, said art therapy can be really beneficial for patients like Sabrina, offering a way of healing without necessarily having to talk about what they’re going through.
Chorman said he hopes to raise as much money as possible through the raffle for Sabrina. The drawing will begin at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 6, at Millman’s Appliances, with several handcrafted prizes such as a blanket chest and children’s rocking chair.
“Giving back has always been one thing my parents taught me and one thing I truly believe in,” Haupt said. “It’s not about me. It’s really just about taking care of people.”
According to Keith, “The point of it for me is, regardless of your circumstance or regardless of anyone’s circumstances, there’s always the possibility to have an impact on somebody else.”
