Son’s memory honored by charity that helps young cancer patients live their dreams

Before he died from cancer at age 29, Silas River Bennett spent his final months taking photographs of the world around him, emailing friends, buying Christmas gifts for his sisters and encouraging his family to give to the needy.

“What was important to him was to have a sense of himself outside of cancer,” said his mom, Lorraine Kerz of Ramona.

After Bennett died in a Massachusetts hospital in May 2008, Kerz wanted to honor the creative spirit and generosity of her son, whose nickname was “Sy.” The result was Sy’s Fund, a Ramona-based all-volunteer national nonprofit that has fulfilled the wishes of more than 250 people ages 18 to 39 who are battling cancer.

Silas “Sy” River Bennett before his death from cancer at age 29 in 2008.

(Julio Del Sesto)

Just as a camera and laptop helped Sy escape the reality of his terminal illness, Kerz said Sy’s Fund provides cancer patients with small gifts — such as laptops, cameras, guitar lessons, chiropractor visits or printers — to lift their spirits and refocus their energies in a positive direction.

For a 23-year-old woman with lymphoma, the gift was $500 worth of yarn and software so she could start knitting again. For a 19-year-old man with lymphoma, it was a set of weights for when he felt like exercising and some Legos kits for when he didn’t. And for a mom in her 30s recovering from a double mastectomy, it was a double jogging stroller she could use to start running again.

“The young cancer patients 18 to 39 are very underserved, and they’re at a point where a lot of them are just jumping off in their lives. They get this diagnosis and suddenly their lives get very small,” Kerz said. “This is about how do you open that up a little bit, give them something to smile about and help them through their day a little bit outside of cancer.”

Silas “Sy” River Bennett in December 2007 with his three sisters Phoebe, left, Jesse, and Eve. He died from cancer six months later at 29.

Gifts from Sy’s Fund average about $500 in value. Sometimes, when donations are slow, the organization can have up to 15 people waiting for their wishes to be fulfilled. This bothers Kerz because some of the applicants are so sick they don’t have time to wait. But after the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, Sy’s Fund had to cancel its 2020 fundraisers and suspend its gift-giving.

The organization will get back on track this month with a COVID-safe fundraiser planned April 10 and 11. It’s a virtual scavenger hunt that participants can play anywhere in the country with just a cellphone. Registration is by donation at givebutter.com/QuestFest2021SysFund.

The fund has a $10,000 goal, but Kerz said no donation is too small. A few months ago she got a check in the mail for $100 from the mom who’d been granted the double-stroller. Kerz said the woman’s two boys had outgrown the stroller, so she sold it and paid the gift forward by sending the proceeds back to Sy’s Fund.

Bennett was a grad student living in New Hampshire when he went to the hospital in fall 2007 with severe back pains that he thought were caused by a pinched nerve. Instead, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to his bones and eaten through one of the vertebrae in his spine. Doctors believed the cancer was environmentally caused, perhaps by exposure to radon gas in the basement where he lived or toxins in the paints he used as a painter.

Not long before his diagnosis, Bennett had gone back to school to study political journalism. Kerz said her son was a man with a great sense of humor and an “electric intellect” who loved debating, watching “Jeopardy!” on TV and telling stories with his photographs.

“He had a very creative mind and a feisty spirit. He was wildly independent and a free spirit, for sure,” she said.

In the year after Bennett died, Kerz started the paperwork to create the Sy’s Fund foundation. Its first gifts were distributed in 2010. On average, it grants about 25 requests each year. Kerz said Sy’s Fund has seven board members who meet monthly over Zoom to vote on applications. Applicants must be in treatment for cancer and must submit a verification letter from their doctor or oncology team.

The group raises money through three fundraisers each year, such as golf tournaments and 5K races. This year, because of the pandemic, they’re trying a virtual fundraiser for the first time. After registering online, participants must download the “Let’s Roam” app to their phone.

The scavenger hunt — which must be completed within five hours on either April 10 or 11 — involves fulfilling some 30 tasks that range from making 10-second themed videos, recreating a famous painting with objects around the house or reproducing the Sy’s Fund logo with colorful items. Participants must then upload the videos and photos to Let’s Roam to mark off tasks on their checklist.

The individual contestants, teams or families will be scored for their creativity and adherence to the rules. Prizes will go to the two top finishers.

Kerz moved from Massachusetts to Ramona three years ago to join her partner. They met in 2012 at a lung cancer convention, where he’d gone after losing his wife to the disease a year before. Since becoming disabled by a movement disorder, Kerz said she devotes all of her time to Sy’s Fund.

She said people often ask her if it’s painful to be reminded each day of her son’s passing. She said it’s an honor.

“I feel very blessed to be able to touch the lives of so many people in my son’s name,” she said. “I just know he would be very proud because he really wanted to make a difference in the world.”

To apply for a wish grant, visit sysfund.org. The organization is also seeking more volunteer board members. For details, email Kerz at lorraine@sysfund.org.