At the close of last semester, Grand Valley State University junior Jacob Bouwman was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and underwent surgery to have the cancer removed.

Following the news of Bouwman’s illness, members of Bouwman’s fraternity, GVSU’s Rowing Club and professor Kirsten Bartels learned Bouwman was without health insurance and mobilized the GVSU campus community to raise funds for Bouwman.

“With that and classes and everything else, he is dealing with a Herculean amount of stuff,” said Bartels, who was one of the cardinal forces behind the string of donations made for Bouwman over the last few weeks.

As of yesterday, the online donations have raised $9,935, bringing them halfway to their overall goal of $20,000. Bartels said the current total includes a collection from members of GVSU’s Facilities Services department.

Organized by Delta Sigma Phi, the University Book Store helped host a book donation drive, where students could donate books the university wouldn’t buy back, or would buy back for low profit, for the fraternity to sell elsewhere and donate the proceeds, which Delta Sigma Phi members are currently working on.

In addition, the bookstore is in the process of ordering shirts that they will sell to benefit Bouwman, and currently has JakeStrong bracelets for sale.

The Facebook page “JakeStrong – the fundraiser for Jake,” links users to online donation web site www.giveforward.com, where those who want to donate can do so.

Bartels said the athletics department is also working on an event for Bouwman to raise more money, and one of the Men’s Ensemble groups is planning a fundraiser. She said she’d like to do something big for Bouwman – maybe a Zombie Dance for Valentines Day – but nothing is set in stone, and said she encourages suggestions from students and faculty.

Bouwman said he’s thankful to everyone who participated in the book buy back, and thankful to the fraternities and sororities that have been working to sell the JakeStrong bracelets.

On the cusp of the winter semester, Bouwman said he’s doing better, and he has his first check up at the end of this month to make sure the cancer isn’t spreading.

“Even though it is one of the most-cured cancers, the cancer they found was one of the most aggressive cancers,” Bouwman said.

If the doctors do find it is spreading, or that his cell count isn’t going down, Bouwman will be put on Chemotherapy closely followed by another surgery, which would involve the removal of surrounding lymph nodes. If Bouwman undergoes that surgery, the recovery period will take around eight months.

Still, Bouwman will have to undergo monthly blood tests as well as CT scans and chest X-rays every three months for the next 10 years of his life.

From here, Bartels said she hopes to set up an endowment fund for future GVSU students in need, inspired by Bouwman’s cause. It would take a minimum of $30,000 to start up an endowment fund, and then that money would have to remain untouched in the account to keep it running.

“We are still exploring ways of making it happen, but right now the main focus is the immediate bills Jake is facing,” Bartels said.

The donation website will give proceeds to Bouwman in April, but Bartels said the donations are ongoing. Beacuse they want to cover more than just his expenses and work on setting up the endowed fund, she said there’s no scheduled end-date.

“Everyone and everything that people are doing is of enormous value,” Bartels said. “From seeing people wearing the bright green JakeStrong bracelets, to postings on the Facebook page, to your article, to people banding together — like Facilities Services — and giving what they can, the support being given to Jake is so amazing and it is helping him in ways that he may never be able to express.”

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