Family carries on young man's fight
Six months ago, the future looked bright for Northwestern University senior Bryan Paynter, grandson of the school's legendary band director, John Paynter.
The young man was looking ahead to graduation this June and ultimately marriage to his high school sweetheart, Jennifer Vierneisel, who'd just begun her teaching career at Bartlett High School.
But the sudden return of a rare form of bone cancer he thought he'd beaten squeezed the fulfillment of his life's dreams into a matter of weeks.
The most important goal -- his wedding to Vierneisel -- was accomplished at his hospital bedside Feb. 8, only three days before Ewing's sarcoma claimed his life.
"It was just the culmination of our relationship," Vierneisel said of the hastily arranged ceremony, at which both wore their respective college T-shirts.
Taking their cue from the 21-year-old Glenview native, who never acknowledged any hopelessness about his condition, his family is continuing the fight in his name.
Vierneisel's niece, 6-year-old Alexis Vierneisel of Bartlett, donated 11 inches of her hair to Locks of Love last week so wigs can be made for other cancer patients who've lost their hair.
Both the Paynter and Vierneisel families are hosting a bowling and billiards party this Sunday in Mount Prospect to raise funds for Ewing's sarcoma research in Bryan's memory.
This pediatric cancer first struck Bryan at 18, during his freshman year at Northwestern. It originally manifested itself as a pain in his arm.
Only about 200 cases of Ewing's sarcoma are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, his mother Bonita said. The low visibility of the disease makes their personal efforts to raise awareness of it and money to fight it even more important, she said.
Early treatment of the disease brought Bryan to a point where he was out of danger and resuming all aspects of his normal life again, including playing volleyball.
But in January 2007, halfway through his junior year, the cancer returned. More chemotherapy followed, culminating in a bone marrow transplant last August that was expected to be a long-term solution by cleaning all the cancer cells out.
The doctor in charge was optimistic, his family remembers, telling Bryan that he probably wouldn't need more treatments for 30 years.
But a few cancer cells must have escaped the treatment, because the symptoms of Ewing's sarcoma returned in December, more aggressively than before.
This time, Bryan's entire arm and shoulder had to be amputated in a way that prohibited even future possibility of a prosthetic limb.
But Bryan's winning attitude wasn't affected. Having coincidentally invented a device a few years earlier for one-handed people to use in threading a zipper, he turned his math-and-science-oriented mind to making a one-handed controller for his favorite video game system, the Xbox 360.
"He recovered very well," his mom, Bonita, remembered tearfully. "He was adjusting."
In fact, his cheerful, never-quit spirit was among Bryan's chief characteristics from the time he and his bride-to-be met in the band at Glenbrook South High School, Jennifer remembers.
"It's probably his perseverance in every task that he took on," she said of what first drew her to him.
When the chaplain at their wedding asked about the couple's future plans, Bryan talked of having a couple of kids.
"Bryan never gave up the fight, so we're not, either," said Kim Vierneisel, the mother of little Alexis.
The family sees its ongoing fight against Ewing's sarcoma as not just about a disease but as an extension of Bryan's way of always putting others first.
"Even in the hospital, he was worried about how everyone else was doing," said Jennifer's mother, Gail Vierneisel.
Party to fund research
What: Bowling and Billiards Party for Ewing's sarcoma research in memory of Bryan Paynter
When: 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Brunswick Zone, 824 E. Rand Road, Mount Prospect
Cost: $25 per person includes bowling, billiards, food and chance for prizes; make checks payable to cash
Beneficiary: Net proceeds go to American Cancer Society Ewing's sarcoma research
More info: E-mail rememberingbryan@yahoo.com