Jon Bristle worried that his granddaughter would be unable to reach third grade. Her medical reports were grim.
With no warning, doctors had diagnosed 6-year-old Kinzie Bosse with stage 4 cancer.
Because it happened so quickly, the news left the entire family in a state of incomprehensible shock.
Her parents were baffled. It didn’t make sense that buckling Kinzie into her car seat triggered pee-pee accidents. When the reason was clear, hearts broke. Panic prevailed.
Kinzie had a tumor inside her tiny body that pressed against her bladder when she tucked into the car seat. In 2015, her diagnosis was considered to be a terminal condition.
Feeling helpless and helping others
While she struggled with cancer in Auburn, Maine, her grandfather, at home in Grass Lake, Michigan, channeled his worry into raising more than $300,000 over the past decade for the American Cancer Society. When he’s not working his shift at the Dearborn Truck Plant building the F-150 pickup, the 26-year Ford employee is coordinating cancer events and soliciting corporate sponsors and selling raffle tickets.Bristle is known primarily for the Relay for Life cancer charity walk he established in Grass Lake. This year is the 40th anniversary of the event nationally. “I started doing the Relay for Life with my sister-in-law. We made a team, and I enjoyed what it was for,” Bristle told me. “Then when Kinzie got cancer, it made me realize how much this was needed, raising money for research. I wanted to do more. Kinzie is my main reason for doing this. Seeing how she’s doing better now, it showed me there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. But people need help.”
Residents of the tiny village of Grass Lake, west of Ann Arbor in Jackson County, approach Bristle on the street and thank him.
“It makes me very proud,” Bristle said.
He has brought the community together, now holding the event on Fridays so people can walk sponsored laps on the track from 4:30 p.m. to midnight while also supporting Friday night football. The walk will be held Oct. 3 this year.
“We could do a traditional walk and get 30 or 40 people to participate, but during a football game, we get all the visitors, too,” Bristle said.
He works music and antique car events to raise money for cancer, too. When he worked the Faster Horses Music Festival, he donated his hourly wage.
Colleagues at the Ford factory, where Bristle works tag relief in the body shop putting doors and fenders on trucks when people need to take breaks, support his efforts with raffle purchases and kind words.
“Jon is definitely ranked among our top fundraising individuals,” said Katie Jones, senior development manager at the American Cancer Society based in Lansing.
“Honestly, without him, the fundraising may not have continued after the pandemic. He is the heart of the Relay for Life in Grass Lake. The fundraising helps so many cancer patients and their families through research, support services and advocacy.”
Celebrating life at age 16
Now Kinzie is approaching her Sweet 16 birthday.
“I stayed back in second grade,” Kinzie said. “I had chemo, antibody treatments, complications along the way — kidney failure, many surgeries. I have a bunch of scars all over my body but I’m healthy now. I’m living my life happy and cancer-free. I have been in remission, I think, seven years.”
The high school freshman likes to spend time with her best friend hanging out at home, doing nothing and laughing about funny things. She rides bikes, plays video games.
The family will celebrate her April 8 birth as well as her evading death.
Kinzie fought neuroblastoma, a cancer that can develop in the head, neck, chest, abdomen or spine. Kinzie was diagnosed high-risk, which meant chances of survival fell below 40%.
Form of cancer not uncommon in children
Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in babies and the third-most common cancer in children after leukemia and brain cancer. About one in every 7,000 children is affected at some time, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Bristle’s exhaustive efforts to spotlight the importance of supporting cancer research directly impacts public engagement at a local level, his colleagues say.
Bristle is “a true leader in our community. His tireless commitment to fighting cancer, a cause that resonates deeply with so many of us, is an inspiration,” said Corey Williams, plant manager of the Dearborn Truck Plant and Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.
Kinzie said knowing her grandfather has devoted so many years to helping families fight cancer is amazing.
After years of fighting the deadly disease, she offered these words of advice to other young cancer patients and their families:
“Times are going to get rough. You feel like you’re going to give up but don’t ever give up. … Keep fighting.”
Phoebe Wall Howard, a Free Press auto reporter for nearly seven years, covers cars, culture and sailing on Substack at phoebewallhoward.substack.com Contact her at phoebe@phoebehoward.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford worker has raised $300,000 for cancer research after granddaughter’s diagnosis
Reporting by Phoebe Wall Howard / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
