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Jack Supino event raises $100K to fight cancer

By Mike Stucka
Staff writer
Published: April 7, 2008

MIDDLETON — Jack Supino's parents thought they could raise some money to research neuroblastoma, the life-threatening cancer that had attacked the 9-year-old boy. Ron Supino dreamed he might be able to get a few hundred people and maybe $25,000.

The event raised about $100,000 instead.

Boosting the recent fundraiser at Danversport Yacht Club were about 80 gift baskets and 70 silent-auction items. Ron Supino said donors offered an unbelievable variety of auction and raffle items, such as watches and a weekend in New Hampshire, including four tickets to Story Land and the gas to get there. It wasn't the only donation of petroleum that lubricated the "Jack Fights Back" fundraiser.

"I think every restaurant on the North Shore gave us a gift certificate," said Ron Supino, who runs Supino's Restaurant off Route 1 in Danvers. "There were trees of gift certificates. I got 100 gallons of oil, I got $200 off home heating oil, I got bark mulch. Five different people gave me sets of Sox-Yankees tickets. I can't even tell you how generous people were. They gave the premier game, Red Sox-Yankees. They gave them up, like nothing."

The outpouring of support drew plenty of admiration from Suzanne Fountain, director of the Jimmy Fund, a fundraising arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Fountain said even some recurring events cannot raise that much money.

"The short version is, and you can quote me on this, 'They rock.' They are awesome," she said. The money will go to New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy, a consortium that includes local members Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston. Researchers there are working on early-detection methods and developing new treatments for recurring neuroblastoma.

Jack Supino is feeling fine and cleared a March 11 checkup, his father said. Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system, recurs in about half of patients.

During the event, Jack Supino took the stage to perform music by his beloved Elvis Presley. When he was being treated, he asked a Massachusetts General Hospital nurse for a video of "Jailhouse Rock."

Ron Supino said the community rallied behind Jack, with many donors telling them of family members who had had cancer.

"People just came through," he said. "We asked them and they gave and they gave and they gave. We were inundated. I thought $25,000 would be fantastic. I had $50,000, $60,000 before I even sold a raffle ticket. It was incredible."

The fundraiser kept Jack up way past his bedtime. The next morning, Jack and his father talked.

"I asked him at the table, 'Have you ever seen a party like that before?' And he said, 'No, I'm a star,'" Ron Supino recalled. "I said, 'You certainly are.'"

For more information on Jack Supino and neuroblastoma, visit www.jackfightsback.com.

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