Scholarships funded by upcoming 5K help keep light of Pine native Killian Cavanaugh alive

Bella Alampi has learned that time doesn’t necessarily heal wounds, but it can change one’s perspective.

This December will mark eight years since Pine native and Shady Side Academy graduate Killian Patrick Cavanaugh died at only 20 years old. He and Alampi had been friends since middle school, and he was like a brother to her.

“He had a light that was around him. He was very good at bringing people together,” said Alampi, 27, who now lives in Oakmont.

There are still moments of sadness for Alampi. She is getting married in August and wishes Killian could be there. His birthday has been a difficult day.

“Now, in the past couple of years, what’s made me really happy in a way is that I’m just really happy that he was born and the 20 years he had here,” Alampi said. “I’m really grateful to have someone like Killian in my life. I just feel my perspective has changed. At times, I’m very sad to not have him here anymore, but I’m so grateful for the time and the friendship that we did share.”

This month, Alampi plans to walk in the eighth annual Killian 5K that Killan’s family has held to fund scholarships in his memory. It will be held Saturday, July 26, at North Park in McCandless.

Patrick and Susan Cavanaugh started the Killian Cavanaugh Foundation in 2018 in honor of their son. In addition to scholarships supported by the 5K, the foundation has previously made donations to local food banks and animal shelters and provided bicycles and gifts to families in need.

“The biggest fear when you lose someone, especially like this in the prime of their life, is the fear that they’ll be forgotten,” Susan Cavanaugh said. “I wanted to do something to remember him. Now I’m really happy to be able to help and also keep his light alive.”

After beginning as a scholarship for a student to attend Shady Side Academy, from which Killian graduated in 2016, it has grown into a pair of $10,000 scholarships for a graduating student-athlete from Shady Side Academy and Pine-Richland High School. Killian played football and baseball.

This year’s recipients are Maren Iski, the third Pine-Richland High School graduate to receive it, and Ben Michels, the first from Shady Side Academy.

Cavanaugh and her daughter, Vivian, select the winners. The applicants for this year, 43 from Pine-Richland and 15 from Shady Side, were “excellent,” she said.

“You have to wear two hats. You have to be a good student as well as a great athlete,” Cavanaugh said. “I look at everything. I really get to know the students through the process.”

Iski, 18, of Pine will start studies in August at the University of Maryland, where she will be on its cross country and track teams. She also had played soccer and basketball at Pine-Richland. She is majoring in chemical engineering and hopes to go to law school after college.

Iski said she had heard a little about Killian and read more about him after learning of the scholarship.

“He was a very well-rounded student and very active in his community. He seemed like a great kid,” she said. “It means a lot to me that they think that I’m similar to him.”

Killian was in his second year of studying economics at the University of Chicago when, in December 2017, he suffered a seizure. He died from a brain herniation on Dec. 9. A medical malpractice case was settled.

Cavanaugh wasn’t sure what Killian’s plans were for after college.

“It was still so early,” she said. “He could have been anything.”

Based on past years, 500 to 600 participants are expected for the 5K.

Alampi ran the 5K twice, in 2022 and 2023, and was the women’s winner each year. She is walking this year because of a marathon training injury and not being in running shape.

What Susan Cavanaugh does to honor Killian is amazing, she said.

“All the work that she puts in, all the time, all the energy and all the effort, I wouldn’t expect anything less. They had a very special mother-son bond,” Alampi said. “She goes above and beyond to make sure that his legacy remains and he is still with everyone in spirit and name and the amazing person he was lives on in the scholarship and in the race.

“He’s not easy to forget anyway, and all the work that Sue does to keep his legacy alive ensures that he never will be forgotten. Everybody that comes out does it to honor him. The amount of people and the outpouring of love and support shows how incredible a person he was.”

The impact of Killian’s life is proving greater than the years he was given.

“He packed a lot of life and a lot of relationships and a lot of love into his 20 years,” Alampi said. “We can all take from the way Killian lived and apply that to our own lives, and we’ll all live a little bit better in the time that we get as well.”

Killian Cavanaugh is buried at Holy Savior Catholic Cemetery in Richland.