More than 50 people attended Thursday night’s memorial service at St. Joan of Arc Chapel for Andrew Zint, a freshman in the College of Engineering who died of brain cancer April 1. He was 19 years old.
Andrew’s friends and family gathered to reflect on his life and four-and-a-half year battle with medulloblastoma, the most common malignant tumor of the central nervous system in children, according to the Daily Herald. He was diagnosed during his sophomore year at Buffalo Grove High School in Buffalo Grove, Ill. and went through six treatments with four re-occurrences.
Ken Banting, Andrew’s friend from high school and a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, told stories of Andrew’s vibrant sense of humor.
“Every time I tried to write something (about Andrew,) I ended up deleting it; there’s no one thing I can say to show how much he meant to me,” Banting said. “He taught me to treasure time with friends while I can.”
The service included prayers led by Andy Taube, Andrew’s hall minister in Carpenter Tower, and a reading of Andrew’s eulogy from his mother, Susan Zint, who said Andrew loved his time at Marquette.
“Andrew didn’t talk much about his cancer; resisting it becoming his life’s focus,” Susan said. “Applying wit to his disease, he looked for ways to make others laugh. This included exploring how he could build a drug cartel with his prescription narcotics; much like his “Breaking Bad” hero, Walter White.”
Japanese culture, punk rock music, comedy and acting were among Andrew’s many interests. Despite taking a year off of high school for medical treatments, he kept up with tutoring and graduated on time with highest honors.
“Andrew was intellectually sharp, warm-hearted, a loyal friend, achievement-oriented, but also because of cancer, scared and angry,” Susan said. “Told his expiration date a few times by medical professionals, Andrew strove to outlive those rejections and did, having the last laugh by choosing April Fool’s Day.”
John Murawski, a freshman in the College of Communication, got to know Andrew last summer and said he never met someone who inspired him so much.
Emily Zint, Andrew’s sister, said one her most memorial memories of Andrew was when they met Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, and he gave Andrew a personal blessing.
“He could have chosen anyone to meet the Pope with him and he chose me,” Emily said. “We were two average kids in line with a lot of Princes and important people.”
Andrew studied biomedical engineering during his time at Marquette, which was cut short when he withdrew midway through his first semester for a clinical trial.
“Andrew’s goal was to get a biomedical engineering degree and then go onto medical school,” Susan said. “After his experiences with many different medical professionals, he wanted to study something that would make a difference for other children facing what he faced.”
Members of the Counseling Center attended the service and Taube encouraged students to see them if needed.
Memorial services for Andrew were also held last weekend in Illinois.
