Kevin's Life Page

Kevin P. Kane was a remarkable man who lost his life in 1998 due to an aggressive cancer; as a direct result of chemicals released by the Nyanza Chemical Dye Company in Ashland MA. He died within a year of his diagnosis and spent the last months of his life as an advocate in search of the truth. His courage and persistence led to the Ashland Nyanza Health Study (completed in 2006). The study confirmed that the cluster of rare cancers in the youth of Ashland was a result of their proximity to the Nyanza Chemical plant.

"Kevin was a rare young man, gregarious, tender and loving, thoughtful and appreciative. As time passed and he grew into adulthood, he endeared himself to all who knew him. After college, he became a social worker and continued to shed light on everyone he met, caring for children, attempting to improve thir lives."

              Marie Kane







It is impossible to know Kevin Kane without knowing his family and his extraordinary and dedicated parents Bernie and Marie Kane. Kevin.Kevin was the 9th child in the Kane family. He entered the world at 5:00 PM on September 22, 1972, and there was so much excitement in the Kane household when Marie called to announce to the 8 other children that they would be bringing home a baby brother. "What a thrill for me! Kevin was a model baby with 5 sisters claiming a role in his care." Marie recalls.

"As a child, Kevin was precocious, very hyper, definitely ADHD before the term was invented. He was an active daredevil. He would do anything you challenged him to do, always wanting to be part of the action. Kevin had to go wherever his big brothers and sisters were going, it didn't matter where. He just had to be a part of what everyone was doing", Bernie Kane.

In high school, Kevin loved to play sports including football, (winning him the "unsung hero") wrestling, soccer, and golf. He was very friendly, had tons of friends of all varieties, boys and girls older and younger. He could relate to anyone. Kevin worked hard at school, never took short cuts, and never got into trouble. He enjoyed a great sense of humor and enjoyed all the sibling ribbing that took place. As a young teen, he was greatly impacted by the cancer diagnosis of his friend, Timmy. As time went on and Kevin became ill, Tim, in turn felt guilty that he recovered from his cancer and the outlook for Kevin had became bleak.

In college and beyond , Kevin was the life of the party with more friends than he could count. He worked very hard to graduate. Following graduation in 1994, with his degree in hand, he immediately was hired as a case-worker for the Department of Social Services, a position he held until he could no longer work.

Mark Lacasse
Period 7
Letter

Dear Uncle Kevin,

It has been a long 8 years since you passed away, and it has been really hard on the family. Everyone misses you a lot, and sometimes it is hard to watch, especially at your wake. I remember everything that happened like it was yesterday, but the thing I remember best is when Grammy saw you, it was the hardest thing to watch, and I couldn't help but cry either.

It's much the same thing when we go to your memorial stone every year on August thirty-first, I try really hard not to cry, and sometimes I don't, even though I want to. Everyone else does, and it gets very hard to be there, sometimes I want to leave because I don't want to remember the first time we were there.

Every year we have your "memorial dance" thing, and it's supposed to be a fun thing that the family goes to, but I don't go, because I don't want to be the one to think of you and start to cry. Everyone gets kind of angry because I don't go, so I tell them it's not "my thing", when really that's the reason I don't want to go, but I don't want to tell them that.

I remember when my parents came home and told us that you had passed away, I couldn't cry then, I had to wait for everyone to go out, I remember sitting on the steps watching everyone else, I sat upstairs right in this seat and waited until it was my turn to let it out. I looked up to you like a big brother, and now I don't have that.

I don't show my feelings usually, and you knew that. I don't cry in public, or show any type of emotion, and I would rather not have anyone read this at all, but you're the only person other than my parents or grandparents, that I could write longer than a paragraph. I am not sure if I will put this in my portfolio or not, because again I don't like to have people know how I feel about these things. Sometimes I think my parents think I am ignorant, and don't feel anything, but I do. They just don't see it. I hope to see you again up there someday, if not I miss you a lot.

Love the best Godson,
Mark