Sean K. Flanagan

After a long and courageous battle with colon cancer Sean K. Flanagan passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at the age of 35.

Sean was born at Milford Hospital on July 18, 1986 as the sixth beloved son of then Upton, MA. residents Timothy and Carol (Cote) Flanagan.

Sean became internationally known by those who needed help with health, nutrition and exercise.

He received a certification from Integrative Nutrition and authored “Weight Loss Without Restriction”.   He later took on clients to write ad copy to help market products in the healthcare business.

Sean had ADHD that made his life difficult as a child. However, spending days hanging out with his "Papa" Paul Cote and dog Brett was a calming influence.  Dogs were a major part of his life. Three of his favorites were Brett, Bruno and Oli.

He loved to attend pro wrestling events with his dad and recently still subscribed to TV wrestling events.  During his fight with cancer his gaming system had a clone of himself.   It was as if healthy Sean was fighting to defeat sick Sean.

Later Sean requested to attend Sudbury Valley School where he could let his brain pursue any goals he wished from cooking ..to science ..to drums.  He didn’t “graduate” but he did earn his GED.

For many years he learned to adapt and self teach himself new talents to turn his disability into an advantage.  As an adult, he used that acquired knowledge and skill of probing into his own psyche to help coach others to do the same.

When Sean was 21 years old he trained Jorge (George) Rivera (El Conquistador) who won a world MMA championship on pay-per-view broadcast from the United Kingdom.  He praised Sean's training program and personal guidance on air as one of the key elements of his victory.

Sean moved to Oakland in 2014 with the love of his life Jennifer Thomas. They loved California’s beauty, people and variety of food!  That's where Sean set up his business endeavors.

Sean helped many others overcome their weaknesses, fears, and self-doubts to become the person they needed to be to get strong and healthy no matter the obstacle. After meeting him, even if it was limited to Facebook and the like, most considered him a friend for life.  After his passing this was expressed on Facebook hundreds of times from people all over this diverse world.

Sean was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in December 2019.  He used Facebook to journal his journey, looking back at his posts you can see all his wonderful qualities.  He set a goal to extend his life “1-2 years” which resulted in the “Daily Defiance Day #...” count up.  He got weaker with each recent post but gallantly reached the 24th month of defiance.

The 680 days of posts expressed what he had learned over his many years of self-grooming.  Each of the days he posted the exercises he did, weights he used, miles he walked, meals he ate (including ounces of food), and how much he weighed.  One day he posted “I’m going to have so much muscle and such low body fat that there will be nothing left for cancer”.

As recent as this past spring he was lifting 200 pounds and swinging heavy “bats” (*clubbells).

In the end, when he was weak, it was the simple, humble Sean at his best; never an outward complaint.  It was personal things like playing Scrabble with his Mom….strumming a guitar with his brothers (who really stepped up for their youngest brother).…getting that last Thai dish despite his lack of taste and, of course, accepting the loving care from Jennifer.

Sean is survived by his wife Jennifer Thomas Flanagan, his parents Timothy E. and Carol L. Flanagan; and his five older brothers/best friends Timothy J., Daniel, Joel, Patrick and Kevin.  As well as 5 nephews, 6 nieces and we can’t forget his dog Oli Cannoli.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Go Fund Me that has been set up for Jennifer; https://gofund.me/f5d2eafc  

Calling hours will be held from 4 to 6 PM on Wednesday, December 8, in the Pickering & Son Upton Funeral Home, 45 Main Street, Upton.

Facial coverings are required in the funeral home.