SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A matter of choice, when your child dies from cancer, how do you choose to survive it?
In Shelby Township today and every day, for one Metro Detroit family, there is a sense of overwhelming grief that lives side by side with incredible gratefulness, and those two dueling emotions are always at play since the death of a beloved child, stolen too soon by cancer.
Thirteen had never been a good number for the Townsend Family in Shelby Township. In 2013, Justin Townsend was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He passed away at age 13, and the family barely had time to wrap their minds around the fact that he was sick. And then he was gone.
“It was a glioblastoma. The survival rate is very, very low,” said Justin’s dad Roy Townsend.
The family chose to change the number 13 and what it meant to them and what it could mean for others. After doing volunteer work for numerous causes that supported pediatric oncology and hematology. Last year, the Townsends created their own nonprofit, “13Forever.” In one year, they raised mammoth amounts of money to bring a small piece of happiness to children with cancer.
The death of Justin also created a fork in the road for his older sister Jackie, who saw the different Child Life programs at various hospitals would make in the lives of suffering families. Today, Jackie is a child life professional at a local hospital.
So instead of curling up in a ball, becoming bitter, or any number of thing grief can do to the human soul, this Shelby Township family chose a different path. One that can’t ignore the grief but leans into gratefulness more.