Jared Zumbrun, a talented George Jenkins High School graduate, died
Thursday night at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa after a
17-month battle with a rare form of cancer.
Zumbrun was 18.
Zumbrun, who placed second in The Ledger's
editorial writing contest last year, was featured in the newspaper
in December after he had started another round of chemotherapy.
"Every day, people ask, 'Do you feel OK?'" Zumbrun said in
December. "I do my best not to show it. It's better to tell them
that I'm OK than to have them worry."
As the cancer spread, Zumbrun underwent a trial study for a new
cancer drug this summer.
Earlier this month, the situation became more serious and he was
taken to St. Joseph's , where he died about 10 p.m., said Anita
Hamilton, his former English teacher at George Jenkins.
Hamilton saw Zumbrun in the hospital Tuesday.
"I am so sad and taking his death hard at this time," Hamilton
said in an e-mail on Friday. "I get so close to these kids, and
going to a student's funeral is the hardest part of my job."
Zumbrun discovered his illness in April 2008 when he found a bump
the size of a nickel near his collarbone. Initially, the prognosis
wasn't dire. Doctors thought it was lymphoma.
But pathology results determined he had Desmoplastic Small Round
Cell Tumor, a cancer that mostly affects children.
At the time, Zumbrun's doctor, Hans-Christoph Rossbach of St.
Joseph's Hospital, said he'd seen only four patients in 20 years
with this type of cancer. The four children died.
The aggressive tumor first impacts the stomach but can spread to
other organs, such as the liver and lungs, Rossbach said.
Zumbrun's good spirits uplifted his parents and friends.
He never mentioned the word "cancer" when he was at home with his
parents and younger brother Tyler.
His mother said in December that Zumbrun's biggest goal was to
graduate from high school. He graduated in the spring.
"If determination alone were it, he would have it made," she
said. "He's focused on living his life."
