Scoops For Stu: Raleigh man fights cancer and honors late Stuart Scott's legacy

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- For many, Stuart Scott is a name they hear and immediately think sports and broadcasting. For ABC11 reporter Tamara Scott he was a loving uncle who loved ice cream.

But for others living with cancer he is an inspiration to not let the disease win.

"When I saw him going through chemotherapy and he never complained. He use to go to the studio and work and you couldn't even tell that he was coming from chemotherapy and I said why can't I do that?" Marshall Jean said.

Jean received his cancer diagnosis in 2015 right after Stu's passing, that is when he decided to follow in his footsteps to fight it off too.

"Cancer is afraid of progress the more you work, you beat it," he explained.

Progress that worked, until seven months ago.

I went into remission and in December my cancer came back, so now I'm back to monthly maintenance," Jean explained.

Wednesday, he was back to work at Chavis Park.

"I just came back from chemotherapy and I'm here in the park. I'm doing like 4 miles and I'm like 'Boo-yah,'" he said, quoting one of Stuart Scott's famous taglines.

Inspiring Jean to walk 4 miles a day and follow a rigorous routine is only one part Scott's legacy.

"His words actually still inspire me to continue because one of the things he always would say is that even if the cancer takes you away you didn't lose to it -- because you beat cancer by how you live," Jean said quoting Scotts famous ESPY speech in 2014.

His words in accepting the Jimmy V award also inspired his memorial Cancer fund with the V Foundation which raises money each year to help people battling cancer.

"I think a lot of the ways that we really see disparities in cancer research, one of the main focuses of the Stuart Scott fund, is funding underrepresented researchers. And we hear stories all the time of researchers saying 'I couldn't find funding; I couldn't get funding for this idea.' And we're really proud to invest in communities and invest in researchers that we know will do great things in the future," said Jeff Friday with the V Foundation.

To date, Scott's fund has raised $16 million in grants. Each year the Scoops for Stu campaign, started by his daughters Taelor and Sydni, raises even more.

"You can't lose. I'm not losing, plus I'm a dad. I can't tell cancer, 'Listen can you come back next semester? I've got to pay tuition,'" he said reflecting on Scott's passion for his two daughters.

As for tomorrow, "You can't think about the future. It's always 'OK, today I'm good. My blood test is good, so therefore I'm good. So tomorrow I'll think about tomorrow,'" he explained.

If you would like to participate in the Scoops for Stu event, just take a picture of yourself eating ice cream and post it to social media with the hashtag #ScoopsForStu. For more information on the V Foundation and how to donate, click here.