Sean’s Path has been created to honor and fuel the legacy of Sean Stutman, who passed away unexpectedly just before his 8th birthday, in July of 2022.
While Sean’s death was untimely, his life was indescribably brilliant. Sean was a magnetic figure— building community, spreading love, and inspiring people wherever he went. The name Sean means “gift from God,” and that he was!
Diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth, Sean overcame numerous obstacles through consistent hard work, faith, and community support that allowed him to accomplish many things, physically, intellectually, and faith-wise that many adults have never. While Sean was born with Down Syndrome, he and his family quickly determined it was not going to limit him in any capacity and started down an unclear but hopeful path, surrounded by family, friends, and faith.
Starting at age 2, Sean undertook an intensive daily physical and intellectual program under the guidance of IAHP.org that enabled him to do some pretty astounding things. For example, one of his dreams was to go backpacking as his older Boy Scout brothers had. To this end, Sean completed a 6-mile round-trip overnight backpacking expedition with his dad and some of Sean’s friends along the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut, sleeping out overnight in the wilderness, lounging in the Housatonic River, and even withstanding a massive thunderstorm in the middle of the night!
His physical and intellectual development was inspired by lots of consistent hard work including running a mile six days a week, doing 30 laps on monkey bars each day, and other activities, such as belly-crawling and gymnastics. And he loved playing sports, from tennis to soccer, and basically anything to do with a ball. He also supplemented his running with hiking and walking, whether on the many Newtown trails he frequented, down Newtown Main Street, or around Fairfield Hills.
Sean also knew the capital of each of the 50 United States as well as the capitals of most countries around the world, including those in South America, Europe, and Asia. His geography prowess even led him to win a homeschool “Capital” Bee, at age 6, competing against middle school and high school participants.
Sean was also a very faith-filled person, attending mass at Saint Rose of Lima Church or elsewhere every week of his entire life. He loved conducting his own services at home, along with siblings and friends, with his play Mass kit and also greatly enjoyed doing the rosary with family and/or friends.
You can learn more about his remarkable and inspiring life journey here. And here you can learn more about Sean’s Path Mission and Initiatives.