Copley High student ‘emanated joy’ to
all who knew her
By Holly Pupino
COPLEY — When school resumes at Copley High School Aug. 22, the classrooms and halls won’t have the benefit of Lauren Braman’s radiant smile, and the Copley High School Marching Band will have to begin its season on a sad note.
Lauren, the daughter of Dr. Kenneth and Cristine Braman, of Copley, died July 31 at Akron Children’s Hospital after a six-month battle against one of the most rare and aggressive forms of leukemia. The 16-year-old honor student would have been starting her junior year at Copley.
“Lauren will be greatly missed by all,” said Bill Steffen, principal of Copley High School. “Whenever I saw her in her wheelchair coming down the hall, she always had a smile on her face. Lauren was an excellent student. She had perfect attendance and an amazing attitude. She was a great example for other students who do not work toward their full potential.”
Lauren completed her sophomore
year via tutoring. She was inducted into the National
Honor Society this past year. She also excelled in music,
beginning the piano at age 5 and becoming an active
member of Copley High School’s marching, concert,
jazz and pep bands. She was also a member of Copley
High School’s Key Club and German Club and served
on Fairlawn Lutheran Church’s Student Leadership
Development Team.
Leukemia was not the first challenge
Lauren faced. She was born with spina bifida and had
to rely on leg braces, walkers and a wheelchair for
mobility. But this never slowed her down. She went camping
with her Girl Scout troop, took mission trips with her
youth group at Fairlawn Lutheran Church, marched in
parades with the band — even in Hollywood —
and participated in a wheelchair dance troupe. At age
11, she was featured in the national American Girl magazine
for her dancing.
“The best word to describe
Lauren was ‘joyful,’” said Vicki Smith,
associate director of bands for Copley-Fairlawn City
Schools. “You could just see a light radiating
from her. She didn’t
complain. She didn’t want any special attention
paid to her. She emanated joy.”
Lauren was diagnosed in January
with biphenotypic leukemia with the Philadelphia chromosome,
said her father, Ken, a primary care physician. This
is an uncommon form of leukemia, affecting less than
1 percent of all children diagnosed with leukemia.
During her illness, Lauren’s
fellow students, as well as much of the Copley and Fairlawn
communities, rallied around her. A bone marrow drive
at Copley High School March 12 registered 461 adults
on the National Bone Marrow Registry in Lauren’s
honor.
Two community auctions raised
money for the Braman family
to offset medical expenses. In the Copley-Fairlawn district,
“hat” days took place to show support for
Lauren, and hundreds of Copley High students attended
Lauren’s “Sweet 16” birthday party
April 22. Members of her church youth group hosted an
omelet breakfast fund-raiser and sold purple and orange
Lance Armstrong-style bracelets featuring Lauren’s
name with the Biblical words, “Be strong and courageous.”
“She would just smile and
face her challenges,” said her mother, Cristine.
“I always told her I admired her more than anybody
I had ever met.”
“Everyone at Copley High
School had so much respect for Lauren,” added
Steffen. “She was
self-sufficient and independent. As Lauren’s pastor
[the Rev. Charles Lentner] said in her funeral homily
Aug. 5, “she was ‘handi-capable’ and
lived her life to the fullest.”
In addition to her parents, Lauren
is survived by her brother, Kory, 11; her sister, Kelsey,
9; grandparents Kenneth Sr. and Joann Braman, of Norton;
and Howard and Sylvia Johnson, of New Franklin; as well
as aunts, uncles and cousins.
As per Lauren’s wishes,
the Braman family requested that friends and family
wear bright, cheerful colors to calling hours and the
funeral service. Friends, who had been visiting and
e-mailing Lauren at home and the hospital since
January, were encouraged to write
final messages on their friend’s burial vault.
Memorials may be made to the
Lauren Braman Instrument Fund, care of Copley Music
Boosters, 3797 Ridgewood Road, Copley, OH, 44321, or
the Akron Children’s Hospital Children’s
Blood and Cancer Fund, 1 Perkins Square, Akron, OH 44308.
A video tribute to Lauren can
be viewed at Hummel Funeral Homes’ Web site at
www.hum
melfuneralhomes.com.
Lauren Braman lost her battle to cancer July 31.
Photo courtesy of the Braman family
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