Concert honors deceased Canfield youth

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Neighbors | Submitted.Canfield resident Nick Avery loved playing his guitar. A fundraiser for a scholarship in his name will be March 24 at Crossroads Church on Meridian Road and will feature the Tooth and Nail band.

The late Nick Avery loved music, playing his guitar and going to concerts. Like many teenage boys his age, Nick’s bedroom walls were covered from ceiling to floor with personally autographed band posters.

The Canfield native passed away Aug. 25, 2006 from Acute Myeloid Leukemia. To honor his memory, Heartland Christian School will sponsor “The Nick Avery Role Model Scholarship” fundraiser concert March 24 at Crossroads Church, 544 S. Meridian Road.

Nick’s favorite band, Tooth and Nail, with recording artist Hawk Nelson will be performing. Jay Michael will be a special guest.

“We thought that this would be a great way to celebrate Nick’s life and at the same time raise some money for the scholarship. This will be the fourth year for the event and each year it has become bigger. It is definitely something Nick would have loved. It’s going to be a lot of fun for people of all ages,” said Nick’s mom, Wendy.

In December 2005, when Nick was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia everything in the Avery’s life changed.

“When Nick was diagnosed with leukemia our family knew we had to go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for treatment,” said Wendy.

Wendy was the director of a preschool that had been participating in annual St. Jude Trike-a-thon fundraisers for a number of years. The Avery family had been to St. Jude in June 2005, just six months before Nick was diagnosed, after having received an invitation to the hospital’s “Volunteer Appreciation Day.”

“We spent two days at St. Jude and were totally amazed at what we experienced there,” Wendy recalled. “So much so that as we were leaving the hospital Nick said ‘Mom, I don’t ever want to have cancer but if I do this is where I want to go.’ So when Nick was diagnosed just six months later, we felt that God had made a way for us to go to St. Jude.”

Nick and Wendy lived in Memphis during the five months of the treatment protocol. Nick’s dad, Steve, and siblings, Josh and Alisha, came to visit whenever they were able. Even though Nick had to temporarily give up going to concerts, he continued to listen to music and practice his guitar.

Nick did very well and was in remission after the first round of chemotherapy he received. He and his mom were able to return to their home in Canfield at the end of May 2006. Nick had a great summer with his friends, but at the end of July he woke one morning with a backache which turned out to be a relapse of the leukemia.

The Averys returned to St. Jude so that Nick could receive a life-saving bone marrow transplant. But four days after they returned, complications set in and Nick passed away at the age of 15 and just three days before he was to begin his sophomore year at Heartland Christian School.

The last entry of Nick’s online journal was written the day he found out the cancer had returned.

“Life is good ... I mean I’m still really scared and I have no clue what’s going to happen but I know that God has an awesome plan for me,” he wrote.

Part of that plan is the scholarship that was started at Heartland Christian School. Each year, the school hosts a concert fundraiser for the scholarship because of Nick’s great love for music.

Tickets are $15 presale and $20 at the door and can be purchased at Heartland Christian School, Crossroads Church, Family Christian Bookstores in Boardman, Lion and Lamb Bookstore in Salem and at www.itickets.com.