Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kiste

As many of you know, John Kiste received a double lung transplant at the Cleveland Clinic in late 2014. In this regard, he represents a tremendous medical success story since the five-year survival rate for such transplants is about 25%.

Very recently, John has been diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer. While doctors are hopeful that he can beat it, his treatment journey is expected to be long and complicated. John and his wife, Lonna, have already been burdened with a huge medical debt resulting from the transplant, follow-up care, and the expensive cocktail of medications, including anti-rejection drugs that he’ll be on for the rest of his life. While he has received disability payments to help with this, he has recently learned that one of the sources of those payments, representing a significant fraction of his income, has been canceled unexpectedly.

Why Donate?

If you know John, you know that we all are richer for his intelligence, his wit, his creativity. We know he has new chilling tales yet to be told. John and Lonna’s house in New Philadelphia, Ohio, is infamous during the Halloween season, and we’d like to see that tradition continue for years to come.

Other Ways to Help

If you have goods or services that you’d be willing to offer for the silent auction, please let us know.

If you have experiences with John that you’d like to share, whether or not you’re in a position to donate, please come to the event at Cherry Road Winery in Massillon, Ohio on July 12, 2025, from 2-5 PM. We’d love to meet you.

About Us

This benefit is being organized by Stephanie and Tom Cliff. Tom has known John since they met and became friends while at Longfellow Junior High in Massillon. Steph has known Lonna even longer. While John has always remained a close friend, John and Lonna are very special to us for two very important reasons. They introduced us at one of their famous Halloween/anniversary (John and Lonna were married on Halloween in 1981) parties in New Philadelphia way back in 1982. We started dating in 1985, and we’re celebrating our 39th anniversary this year. Fast forward to 2022, and Tom’s dad, who is still doing quite well for a now 96-year-old gentleman, took a hard fall and fractured a vertebra. At that time, Tom’s mom was still around but was suffering from dementia, and Tom Sr. was her primary caregiver (with a lot of help from the family). John and Lonna stepped in and twice a week for years came to help our family, sit with Mom, run errands, and be there when we needed them. This was all despite the hardships the Kistes themselves were enduring at times. While Mom passed in early 2024, John and Dad still hang out frequently, and Dad considers John to be his adoptive son.

In short, we owe John and Lonna so much. With this benefit and your donations (and ours), we hope to reduce their burden, and most importantly, we hope to see them continue to live in the house in New Philadelphia that they (and we) love so much.