Help the Newton Family

Jeremy "Fig" Newton passed away on August 10, 2023 after a battle with cancer (full story at the bottom), leaving behind his wife and two school-aged children. The time from diagnosis to passing was incredibly short and has caught his family, friends and co-workers off guard. It was just a few months ago that Jeremy was active and seemingly healthy. Even after his initial diagnosis, his medical team thought he would be able to survive for many years.

Because of how fast this happened, there is a lot of uncertainty about his level of benefits from his job and what is available to the family in the future. This has been and will be incredibly difficult for everyone and this Go Fund Me is being used to help the Newton family relieve some of the financial burdens (education, mortgage, monthly bills) that they will be facing in the years ahead.

Make Sure My Kids Thrive:

One of his last wishes was that he wanted his friends to "make sure my kids thrive". Jeremy will be impossible to replace, but his friends and family can help carry out his final wishes by contributing and helping to ensure his kids are in a position to thrive. His son is entering his Freshman year in high school and his daughter is entering 7th grade. There are many years ahead with educational costs and now there is a loss of income that may not be replaced.

Jeremy devoted his life to serving others, as a police officer for over 20 years in the city of Frontenac. He also worked off-duty security at many area schools and events. Outside of work, he spent much of his free time coaching or supporting the soccer, volleyball, cycling, baseball and other teams that his children continue to participate in. He was selfless. If you needed help with anything, he was there for you without question.

In recent years he fell in love with mountain biking and became a coach on his son's NICA team. He wanted to focus on getting in better shape and spending time with his son doing something they both love. He was a favorite coach on the team, keeping everyone laughing even when they were hot and tired. During races, he kept everyone's spirits up and was instrumental in building the team community.

If you knew him, you know how much fun he was to be around. He was the life of the party and made everyone feel welcome. People that had the good fortune to know him will never forget him or his personality. It didn't matter how tired he was or what kind of day he had, he was always looking for ways to lift someone up and make them laugh. Even in his final days, he remained strong for all of those around him and tried to put everyone at ease as they came to say their goodbyes.

#GoFullNewton is a hashtag his friends started after his diagnosis. It's a phrase to remind ourselves to go all out and do our best and have fun while doing it. That's how Fig lived his life and what he wanted everyone else to do in his memory.

We know the Newton's have a great support system of friends and family, but there are so many needs they will have in the future. Please consider donating to help this family have less to worry about after suffering a shocking and devastating loss.

Jeremy's Cancer Story:

After several weeks of not feeling well, Jeremy took a trip to the Urgent Care and received a diagnosis of pneumonia, and some medicine to help. A couple more weeks passed and some of his symptoms were better, however, there was still nagging shortness of breath, cough, dizziness, and an overall feeling of fatigue. On June 3, 2023 all of these symptoms got worse and Jeremy made his way to the Emergency Room. They performed a CT scan and found a large mass in his lungs.

About 5 years earlier, Jeremy saw a dermatologist and found a suspicious spot on his right shoulder. It was removed in two surgeries and was found to be melanoma. After being removed with clean margins, Jeremy followed up with his dermatologist and surgeon regularly, until being released from their services at the end of February 2023.

Fast forward to June 2023 and Jeremy is admitted to the hospital. On June 6, a lung biopsy, a scope through his stomach and small intestines, and a head MRI confirmed the mass in his lungs, as well as lesions in his bowels and brain. These were identified as stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma.

Jeremy started a treatment plan with radiation on June 12, 2023. Once that was completed, he started his first treatment of immunotherapy. Unfortunately, he was only able to get through one dose of immunotherapy. His intestinal tumor would not stop bleeding and he needed regular transfusions to keep all of his energy and counts up. He fought hard, but the cancer spread and his body couldn't recover from the constant internal bleeding. He passed away peacefully, shortly after midnight on Thursday, August 10, 2023 with his family by his side.