Junior David Medeiros passed away at the age of 20 last Thursday, after a year and a half-long battle with pancreatic cancer. The Medfield, MA native, an active member of the student-run drama organization Pen, Paint, and Pretzels (3Ps), was described as soft-spoken and easygoing by his friends.
Family and friends will pay tribute to Medeiros today at a morning funeral and mass. A wake was held yesterday afternoon.
"A huge number of people came, and I am sure a huge number of people will go to the funeral tomorrow," Kristen Leahey, a friend and fellow 3Ps member, said. "There were a lot of people who loved Dave," she said. President Emeritus John DiBiaggio was among the mourners.
Medeiros returned to Tufts as a junior this fall after taking the spring 2001 semester off to fight his disease. Friends said that while they knew he had cancer, it shocked them that the disease ultimately took his life. Medeiros had appeared to be in remission during the summer and at the beginning of this school year.
For Medeiros, the theater was an integral part of his Tufts experience. He began his involvement in 3Ps as a freshman in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in the fall of 1999.
During the Fall 2000 semester, Medeiros acted in the drama department's show The Merry Wives of Windsor and in the 3Ps minor production Picasso at the Lapin Agille. The Fall 2001 3Ps minor production Reflections on Ice-Breaking marked his directorial debut.
Fellow 3Ps member Adam Colt, who worked with Medeiros while stage managing for Picasso and acting in Reflections, spoke fondly of his friend. "He cared deeply about what he did. He put all of his energy into directing his minor last semester, and was dedicated as an actor," Colt said.
Colt remembered Medeiros' knack for impersonations. "He could do a boatload of voice impressions. Last fall, when he was in Merry Wives of Windsor, he was a French doctor, and then he played Elvis in Picasso. He had fun with them."
Leahey said that Medeiros, a child development major, enjoyed being with kids. He worked at the daycare center at Elliot Pearson.
"He always really loved kids," Leahey said. "It was a privilege working with him and he was a privilege to have as a friend. He was a wonderful, gentle, kind person who always had the best intentions and always tried to make everyone happy...he was a great guy. He loved life and he loved people."
Junior Aditi Gupta recalled how Medeiros became progressively sicker over the last few years.
"He was just the type of person who always puts up a brave face," she remembered. "He was always putting others before himself," Gupta said.
Medeiros became sick during his sophomore year, but his condition was first thought to be gallstones. He went in for surgery during winter break, and when it was established that he would need chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, he was unable to return for the spring.
Gupta and other friends visited Medeiros in the hospital during the summer, and said he seemed to be doing much better. But in November, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver and that he was going to have to go back into chemotherapy. He decided to not go back to the hospital, but to instead get treatments on the weekend and keep attending classes.
By December, he was back in the hospital.
Father David O'Leary of the Catholic Center is working with the Dean of Students Office and the Medeiros family to organize a memorial service to be held after students return from spring break, Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. He added that many students have written to him expressing the desire that a tree be planted on campus in Medeiros' name, and said the idea was being considered.
Students will be notified of memorial events by the Dean of Students Office.
"It seems to me like David was quite a popular person," Reitman said. "There are a lot of people who want to be part of both the memorial service and participate in whatever we as a community do to remember him."
The MetroWest Daily News reported in an obituary that during his illness, Medeiros collaborated with the Harvard Medical School to devote himself to improving the doctor-patient relationships for people living with life-threatening illnesses.
Medeiros was an honors graduate of Medfield High School, Class of 1999. During high school, he was president of the National Honor Society, a tri-captain of the cross-country team, an active member of the Medfield Theatre Society, as well as the student representative to the Superintendent's Advisory Council.
Although rarer than many types of cancer, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US because it produces few- if any - symptoms before spreading. For this reason, only about four percent of all people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the US survive for five or more years.
Medeiros is survived by his parents, Frank and Pauline (Turco) Medeiros and his sister, Lea Medeiros.
The funeral is being held today at the Ginley Funeral Home, 882 Main St., Walpole, followed by a funeral Mass at 10 a.m. at St. Edward's Church in Medfield.
The Medeiros family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the David E. Medeiros Memorial Fund care of Ben Franklin Savings Bank, 76 North St., Medfield, MA 02052.
