A son's sweet coda to his father's life

STAMFORD -- Evan Hyman's campaign for student council president involved sweets -- cupcakes, actually -- but came with a bittersweet story.

Evan, 10, lost his father, Howard Hyman, to brain cancer Dec. 6, 2008. During his run for office this fall, Evan told fellow Newfield Elementary students about his loss and about the hospice that cared for his father during the final week of his life.

"It is like a nice hotel where people can come to visit very sick people who know they are going to pass away," Evan said in his campaign speech, describing the Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence on Shelburne Road. "We should have a program to raise funds for this hospice. This program will be called Cupcakes for a Cause. I will be very proud to hand-deliver the money to them."

On Monday, the curly haired fifth-grader delivered on his promise. He, his mother, the student council members and others manned a series of tables in the lobby covered with every type of cupcake a child could want, from Hostess to homemade with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and curved pretzel piece stacked on top to create an "ornament cupcake."

Not surprisingly, cupcake selection was difficult.

"They are all delicious," Holly Hyman, Evan's mother, told several second-graders as they arrived. "I don't think you can have a bad cupcake."

Though he said he prefers double chocolate, Evan was particularly impressed by a box of cupcakes with plain gold tops, which, he said, had icing stuffed inside.

"I think it's good for all of us to remember how lucky we are to be in this world. We've got to enjoy life while it lasts," he said. "Everyone should have some sugar once in a while."

Any indecision was fleeting. By the end of the sale, Holly Hyman estimated the cupcakes had brought in as much as $400.

Hospice is not so much a place as a way of caring for patients who have a prognosis of six months or less to live, said Holly Brookstein, who works in development for Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care of Southwestern Connecticut, which owns the Rosenthal residence.

Brookstein said donations help fill a gap for the hospice, which operates at a loss.

Hospice is about keeping patients as comfortable as possible, while allowing them as much dignity and freedom to move about as possible, she said. "It has a lot to do with supporting the family."

Some Newfield students said they did not know what hospice was before Evan introduced the idea for a fundraiser.

Cameron Lyman, a fourth-grader, said learning about hospice made her feel "sad and happy."

Holly Hyman said Howard saw visitors at all hours, including musical performers, and their older son, Casey, played piano in the hospice. She framed their sons' artwork and hung it on the walls, and put up a bulletin board covered in memorabilia. The nurses were compassionate and warm, she said.

His time there, she said, "was almost like a celebrating life party."

Staff writer Wynne Parry can be reached at wynne.parry@scni.com or 203-964-2263.