Live Life to the Max

A Scholarship Born from Love, Loss, and What Still Matters

Sometimes, legacy begins not with answers—but with one brave conversation.

It was a few weeks before Marcus Harper could reach out to Causeway Collaborative to explain why his son, Max, never made it to his first appointment. Not because Marcus was disorganized. Not because Max changed his mind. But because Max was killed in an accident about half an hour before he was scheduled to attend his first mentorship meeting.

Out of that unbearable moment, Marcus made a choice that continues to ripple outward with hope—both in honor of Max, and in service to future young men who may benefit from Causeway’s unique model of care.

“I had to reach out and say, ‘I’m really sorry we never showed up,’” remembers Marcus, “and that, weirdly, I still wanted to talk to someone at Causeway. Because the conversation we’d had about mentorship and the Causeway process…it had meant so much to me. I wanted to talk about whether there was a way to set something up. A scholarship. In Max’s name.”

That call—made in the aftermath of a parent’s unthinkable loss—became the beginning of Live Life to the Max.

More Than His Struggles

Max Harper was 18. He was bright. Athletic. Charismatic. And judging by the hundreds of students who gathered for a beachside memorial after his passing, his community deeply loved him. 

Max also lived with ADHD. And like many young men, he struggled under the growing weight of expectations: school, organization, decision-making, and the pressure to figure out what came next.

“With every year that he got older—14, 15, 16, 17—it just got harder,” Marcus shares. “He knew what he was supposed to do, but he couldn’t always do it. And that creates anxiety. It creates frustration. You start getting into this negative cycle: trouble at school, tension at home, feeling like you’re always behind.”

Those struggles resonated deeply with Marcus, who had experienced many of the same challenges in his own youth.

“I remember someone coming into my space and helping me organize…teaching me simple systems, simple techniques,” he said. “That kind of coaching changed everything for me.”

It also shaped what Marcus hoped Max was about to begin.

The Support Max Was Stepping Into

Causeway’s model stood out to Marcus because it wasn’t going to ask Max to fit a diagnosis or follow a prescribed path. It offered something more personal: mentorship, future planning, and support that could grow with him.

What Marcus wanted for his son wasn’t correction. It was someone who could help with the everyday things that quietly weigh on a young man. Organization. Planning. Follow-through. Learning how to manage himself in the world.

Marcus was especially drawn to Causeway’s approach to future planning, believing that kids work best when the plan feels like their own and not their parents’. And what excited him most abou the program was the chance to show up for Max by doing his own work, with Causeway’s help.

“I told him I was actually looking forward to the parent coaching,” admits Marcus. “What I was really saying was, ‘I accept that I need to learn how to do a better job helping you.’ That’s a big moment for a kid—hearing their parent say that.”

Max never got to attend that first session. But for Marcus, that moment—and the intention behind it—stayed.

From Grief to Earlier Support

In the days and weeks after Max’s death, Marcus found himself surrounded by Max’s friends. Young men grieving, reeling, and trying to make sense of how suddenly everything had changed. So many of them reminded him of Max.

Originally, a traditional academic scholarship was created in Max’s name. But Marcus kept returning to a different question.

“I kept thinking—what if kids could access this kind of help before things spiral?” he said. “Before they feel completely stuck?”

Out of that question, Live Life to the Max took shape, a fund established by Marcus, in partnership with Causeway Collaborative and the Town of Westport, to give other young men access to the kind of mentoring and family support Max was about to begin.

What Live Life to the Max Provides

Live Life to the Max is Causeway Collaborative’s first scholarship-funded, time-bound mentoring and family-support program for young men with ADHDand their families in and around Fairfield County.

Families who apply and qualify receive approximately 16 weeks of services, representing roughly a $5,000 scholarship that fully covers the cost of participation. The program includes mentorship and coaching for young men, future planning and decision support, and parent coaching that strengthens the entire family system.

By removing financial barriers to working with Causeway, Live Life to the Max gives young men with ADHD the opportunity to lean in and say yes—I’m going to try this—and invites parents to engage alongside them.

“That’s where change really happens,” Marcus said.

How Live Life to the Max Supports Young Men with ADHD

“Causeway’s scholarship program is truly a well-rounded approach to helping a young man,” says Heather Waxman, LMFT, Causeway Collaborator Family Therapist. “It addresses the pragmatic obstacles and challenges he may face, such as academic and/or career trajectory; social challenges like social anxiety or creating close friendships; and it also includes his family in his development through parent coaching. It is a holistic approach to a young man’s mental health by serving the entire family system, which is rare and so needed.”

In its first year, Live Life to the Max is already making an impact.

“In the last cohort of participants, support around future trajectory was a significant theme,” explains Stephan Genovese, LPC, Causeway’s Westport Office director. One young man who had dropped out of high school and felt stuck about his next steps was supported in finding a job he enjoyed and developing a plan to earn his GED. Another participant—a high school senior weighing college versus a gap year—was able to align with his parents on a path that maximized the likelihood of a successful outcome.

Carrying The Work Forward

Live Life to the Max exists because one father made a call no parent should ever have to make, and then chose to turn that moment into something that could help other families begin sooner.

For families who may be feeling stuck or unsure of next steps, this scholarship offers a way forward: access to support, guidance, and structure at a moment when those things matter most. Because if there’s something Marcus wants families raising sons with ADHD to feel, it’s possibility.

“I hope they feel that if their son is struggling, there are people who understand,” he said. “People who want to help before things spiral.”

For those who can give, supporting Live Life to the Max helps ensure that more young men receive care earlier, before frustration turns into isolation, and before possibility quietly narrows. And for families who may need the support, know that Causeway is here…for both you and your son.