The Staff of 95.3 The Bear Say Goodbye To A Friend

95.3 The Bear has participated in the St. Jude radiothon for the past eight years or so. We are all, as a staff, well aware of the heartache that comes with helping children fighting cancer.

Over the past few years we made friends with Tracy and her son, Koleton Hunt from Moundville. Koleton was young man who fought and successfully beat cancer. His triumph over the disease affecting so many children reminded us of why we do what we do. He and his mother have been big supporters of 95.3 The Bear, but also help by doing all they can for St. Jude.

We first met Koleton's mom, Tracy after she became a Partner-In-Hope during our St. Jude Radiothon. As one of our Partners, Tracy was invited to a concert held at Mugshots in downtown Tuscaloosa to celebrate the money we'd raised to battle cancer. Several months later, she called us with the news that her own son would face the same fight. I'll never forget one particular statement she made. "Never in a million years, did I think I would ever be standing in Mugshots while other people's children fought cancer and the next year, I would be one of them."

Even though Koleton was never a patient at St. Jude, his doctor once worked there and uses protocol discovered at St. Jude to treat his patients. I remember brainstorming with Tracy on the day of our 2012 Radiothon on how to use Koleton's story to raise awareness for St. Jude.

Koleton's family always wanted to help but they never asked for help from us.

I received a Facbook message early Saturday morning that Koleton had passed away at the tender age of 11. Tragically, he died from an incident unrelated to his cancer.

Sadness filled my heart as it slowly broke, thinking of what his family was going through. No amount of stories of childhood cancer toughens your skin for this sort of news but knowing Koleton had beaten his cancer only to die from an unrelated cause makes this pill an even tougher one to swallow.

Our thoughts and endless prayers are with Tracy and her family at this time. As we say goodbye, we are at peace knowing Kolteon is now with God and he'll never have to worry about things like cancer again.