INTRODUCTION

I WAS PICKED... THE JOHN CHALLIS STORY

By Howard Shapiro with the Challis Family

During the spring and early summer of 2008 I was writing my first graphic novel, The Stereotypical Freaks, but I was in the midst of a bad case of writer’s block. I knew what I wanted the story to say, but I was missing a character, one who would be the center of the story’s universe. I read a front-page article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Mike White about an amazing teen who had terminal cancer but wanted to play baseball one more time, and who got a solid hit on the first pitch. It read like something out of a Disney movie, but it really happened—and sadly, John was dying.

But he came across unlike any teen or even any adult in that situation would. He spoke of not sweating the small stuff, of living every day to its fullest, and of living in the moment. While I was reading about John, a light bulb went off in my head. I was inspired and wanted to create a character who had John’s immense wisdom and his beyond-his-years sensibility. The Jacoby character was born, and I was able to finish writing the book a few months later.

The Courage for Life Foundation (CFL) was started right before John’s death, and each year I do a charity raffle at my book signings and donate the money raised to hockey and/or sports-related causes. The CFL is one of the charities I donate to each year. After The Stereotypical Freaks came out in 2011, I sent the Foundation a copy of the book and told them that the Jacoby character was inspired by John. I ended up emailing John’s dad, Scott Challis, and had the honor of meeting him at a book signing in September 2012. He told me that over the last several years he had been trying to have a book published about John and his story. Truthfully, I was surprised one had not come out, and I told him so. A few weeks later Scott called me and asked me if I would be interested in writing John’s story. I was floored, and accepted with great honor and a desire to tell John’s story and keep his message and memory alive.

Questions swirled around my head after I hung up the phone with Scott. John’s courage was remarkable, but where did that ability, the ability to move, inspire, and enlighten young and old, come from? Was it something John was born with? How could someone so young, someone who was beginning his life, develop the wisdom and strength that most people twice or three times his age did not have or would not even be able to muster if put in a similar situation?