I knew Mike and am very good friends with many of his brothers - its so sad to lose him...
UI senior, 21, dies of colon cancer
By Bridget Frodyma
The symptoms came just before finals week last spring. Doctors first thought the abdominal cramps were stress-related, and, later appendicitis.
But it was colon-recto cancer that quickly paralyzed Michael Junker's vocal cords and left the UI senior weak. On Tuesday, he died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Illinois at age 21— extremely young to suffer from the illness.
"The chances of him getting colon-recto cancer is like winning the lottery, but reversed," said his uncle, David Gould.
Friends remembered Junker Wednesday as having a dry sense of humor, compassion, devotion, and a love for sports, art — and gyros. Nobody thought he would go so quickly.
"He knew cancer would be something he'd have to live with … the chemo didn't work, and it was one of those things where he was running out of options," Gould said. "A couple weeks ago, when I was visiting him, he was anxious and talking about coming back to campus. He wanted to know about his fraternity … those were the people he really cared about."
Junker majored in English and journalism, and he planned to graduate in May 2003. An active student, he was the director, assistant educator, and chaplain of his fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi. Junker was also a member of RiverFest's executive council.
Junker established his most valuable friendships in the fraternity.
"He was one of the few guys I've ever met that had the same sense of humor as me," said UI senior Bill Feehan, a friend. "It was one of those feelings where you know he's going to be your best friend."
Feehan crowded into Junker's hospital room on Aug. 19 along with 17 fraternity brothers.
"I know for sure it made his day, maybe his summer," said fraternity brother and UI senior Tim Ahlers. "He said his friends back here meant the world to him."
Junker, who leaves behind both parents and a sister, will be buried in Lansing, Ill., on Saturday at 10 a.m.
That's less than a year after he waited for hours with a group of 26 Hawkeye basketball fans to secure season tickets in the Hawks Nest. The group was second in line. To a Daily Iowan reporter, Junker kidded that "it's the price you pay" for not having a social life.
"Mike had an off-beat sense of humor," said Gould, who bonded over lunch with Junker once a week before the illness. "We'd watch 'The Simpons' together … he loved 'The Simpsons.' "
Junkers' interests also included the fine arts, and he was intrigued with contemporary music. While working at the UI art library, he often educated himself about different artwork. He had applied to write about the arts for The Daily Iowan.
"He was just a memorable young man," said Judy Lohr, a faculty adviser for the student newspaper at Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing, where Junker had worked.
Lohr remembers his dry sense of humor, maturity, leadership style, and "ability to analyze a situation in a crisis."
Feehan remembers a lighter side of Junker.
"Our favorite thing to eat was gyros. Sometimes we had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner," Feehan said. "I'm happy that the last two gyros he got to eat I got to eat with him."
E-mail DI reporter Bridget Frodyma at:
bridget-frodyma@uiowa.edu
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