Jack Tyler Sundberg, age 3, of Erie died Sunday morning June 1, 2008 at his home with his family.
He was born August 18th, 2004 a son of Craig and Megan Munn Sundberg.
Jack has had two lives – before cancer and after cancer.
Before Jack’s cancer he was an fearless explorer, independent, water in the eyes was welcomed, tireless at activity, loud at times, a lover boy and a charmer. His natural beauty and smile attracted all the mothers and girls to him. Once or twice he vanished from the house and seconds later we found him running down the sidewalk outside. This prompted us to put a chain at each door because he was prone to un-authorized exploration.
In summers his pants were constantly filled with sand from playing in it and in winter he never wanted to go in from sliding down the snow-sled-hill mom made.
In summer the pool was too deep for even Robynn and certainly Jack – they simply wore life jackets and jumped in. We spent hours as many days a week as possible in the pool having fun.
Yesterday was mother’s day and Megan reminded me that I had Jack and Robynn climb up a very steep embankment at the “river” at Asbury woods – Megan was a worried mom. They were both fearless and I was there to help them find their extents not their limits. We walked the creek (we called it the river) with shoes every summer. The 1st time for Jack was in a diaper and he just ran out of energy 2 miles downstream so I carried him on my shoulders back upstream while he slept.
We thought he was small and short in those days. At 3 ¾ years – 6 months past diagnosis – he was 43 inches and 55 lbs – before the cancer he weighed 35 lbs.
Jack’s spirit is naturally happy. I always thought he was just like me – almost. He and I always communicated intuitively and we worked together very well with few words. At a TV and with music his rhythmic timing was impeccable and his memory was precise. After watching a Baby Einstein, A Dora the Explorer, or a Diego the Animal Rescuer he would have all the lines memorized. As a musician myself I noted he had extraordinary skill at remembering the exact details of rhythm inside the music OR background words in the lyrics.
With all that musical talent he also inherited his mother’s dance talent – all the Munn sisters have it. In September he started dance – the only boy in his all-girl dance class. The first day of class I felt like grabbing him and running for the hills – it just did not feel right. But he went in and dance ...
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Jack Tyler Sundberg, age 3, of Erie died Sunday morning June 1, 2008 at his home with his family.
He was born August 18th, 2004 a son of Craig and Megan Munn Sundberg.
Jack has had two lives – before cancer and after cancer.
Before Jack’s cancer he was an fearless explorer, independent, water in the eyes was welcomed, tireless at activity, loud at times, a lover boy and a charmer. His natural beauty and smile attracted all the mothers and girls to him. Once or twice he vanished from the house and seconds later we found him running down the sidewalk outside. This prompted us to put a chain at each door because he was prone to un-authorized exploration.
In summers his pants were constantly filled with sand from playing in it and in winter he never wanted to go in from sliding down the snow-sled-hill mom made.
In summer the pool was too deep for even Robynn and certainly Jack – they simply wore life jackets and jumped in. We spent hours as many days a week as possible in the pool having fun.
Yesterday was mother’s day and Megan reminded me that I had Jack and Robynn climb up a very steep embankment at the “river” at Asbury woods – Megan was a worried mom. They were both fearless and I was there to help them find their extents not their limits. We walked the creek (we called it the river) with shoes every summer. The 1st time for Jack was in a diaper and he just ran out of energy 2 miles downstream so I carried him on my shoulders back upstream while he slept.
We thought he was small and short in those days. At 3 ¾ years – 6 months past diagnosis – he was 43 inches and 55 lbs – before the cancer he weighed 35 lbs.
Jack’s spirit is naturally happy. I always thought he was just like me – almost. He and I always communicated intuitively and we worked together very well with few words. At a TV and with music his rhythmic timing was impeccable and his memory was precise. After watching a Baby Einstein, A Dora the Explorer, or a Diego the Animal Rescuer he would have all the lines memorized. As a musician myself I noted he had extraordinary skill at remembering the exact details of rhythm inside the music OR background words in the lyrics.
With all that musical talent he also inherited his mother’s dance talent – all the Munn sisters have it. In September he started dance – the only boy in his all-girl dance class. The first day of class I felt like grabbing him and running for the hills – it just did not feel right. But he went in and danced. He was comfortable and loved being really good at something social. The next week he didn’t want to go in – at first. I was not going to make him go in and after 5 minutes he said, “Dad, I want to dance.” He went in and never balked again. He caught on quickly and was fast becoming a spotlight potential. This experience was short as his cancer started to interfere with his function by late October 2007.
It’s easy in retrospect to recognize the signs – he was starting to get sleepy and this kid did not get tired. He was doing the slide at Port Farms and seemed not to be having as much fun as he would normally have had. Earlier my mother noticed a slight asymmetry to his posture. And then it started … he seemed very sick, throwing up and sleeping a lot, only to have enough energy to watch Baby Einstein in between. This went on for and entire week. We had to help him walk and he was absent. The doctors thought is was a virus that would pass.
Later on the vomiting stopped until the night of October 28th when the world forever changed for him and us. We took him to Hamot that Sunday night – 28 October. 29 October he was flown to Pittsburgh Children’s hospital where he spent two weeks under sedation. He received extensive MRI’s and a few relatively minor surgeries. After not eating for three weeks he came home to recover – raisins were his favorite food. Late November he started radiation and chemo and within a few weeks we saw obvious improvement and by January he was at 85% of his old self except he was 51 lbs – too many raisins. We did Disney World in Orlando Florida thanks to Make-a-Wish and Give Kids the World. It was wonderful and we were all rather happy. We knew that by February he would start to lose function once again due to the radiation side effects – brain swelling – and it happened. And then the March MRI showed more than brain swelling. We were once again crushed – our hopes dashed against the rocks. We were allowed at that point to give him Avastin + CPT11 and we traveled to Toronto to learn about and obtain DCA. We started the DCA after intensive study and discussion.
Jack was an amazing person – very sensitive and empathetic to others. He cried when a movie had a sad part or the music painted gloom or when two people kissed or a family was brought together once again.
He still owns the hearts of everyone he has touched. He always said “I’m doing good” when you asked him when he was able to answer. His spirit of perseverance was exemplary to us all. He noted when he was sad and yet always emphasized when he returned to happiness after the shadow had passed. It usually took only a few minutes. He knew that his condition effected everyone else and he took care of us and himself. That was Jack. Simply amazing. I’m proud to be Jack’s dad. I love him very much.
In addition to his parents, Craig and Megan, Jack is further survived by his maternal grandparents, Gerry Parke and Jotha Gable Munn; his paternal grandparents, Carl Gustave and Wilda Lou Regelman Sundberg; his five year old sister, Robynn Makayla Sundberg; his 28 year old half-brother, Christian Craig Sundberg; and his 26 year old half-sister, Lauree Jane Sundberg; his aunt, Sallee Rabenold and her husband Gregg; and cousins.
Friends called at the Burton Westlake Funeral Home 3801 West 26th Street at Powell Avenue June 2nd from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 pm and were invited to attend services at Luther Memorial Church 225 West 10th Street on Tuesday, June 3rd, at 10 a.m. with the Reverend David A. Connor officiating.
Burial was at Laurel Hill Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Make A Wish Foundation of PA 2022 West 38th Street Erie, PA 16508; the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation 915 State Street Erie, PA 16501; or to a cancer research organization of one’s choice.
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