Helping to douse the rage of cancer
Project Fire Buddies’ Christmas surprise worth the extra wait
Courtney Silha marks Sept. 7, 2017, as “probably the worst day.”
That is the day her son, Liam Anderson, now 9, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Over the past 1,200-plus days, he has gone through treatment after treatment for the cancer.
But within the first year he also made some new friends in the Oak Forest Fire Department. Silha, who has lived in Oak Forest for 28 years, said her family was introduced to Project Fire Buddies by its chief executive officer, Kurt DeGroot.
The organization, which DeGroot likens to a Make-A-Wish program that connects with sick children, forms relationships with their families and delivers gifts for Christmas, has been part of their lives ever since.
“I don’t even know if there’s words for it,” Silha said. “It’s just nice to know they support families.”
After more than three years, Liam wrapped up his final treatment Dec. 26, and Dec. 27 marked his first day free from medications.
“He is very excited,” Silha said. “He doesn’t want to have to take medications anymore. That alone is big for him.”
But Silha wanted to make that day even bigger for him. So back in October she reached out to his friends and family to send videos congratulating Liam on being cancer-free.
She also had a long-shot idea to email some of the people who portray Liam’s favorite superheroes and characters from his favorite movie, “Jumanji,” to include them in the video.
“I was hopeful, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath,” Silha said. “Kurt was able to make it come to fruition.”
On Dec. 27, Liam celebrated the end of his cancer treatments with videos from friends and family. But he also received videos from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Jumanji” star Jack Black, “Wonder Woman” Gal Gadot, pro wrestler and actor Dave Bautista (who portrays Drax in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”), gold medalist in women’s hockey Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Jim O’Heir of “Parks and Recreation” fame. They all learned the details of Liam’s story and sent videos to help celebrate.
Silha said it was more than enough to get the first one. But to see how “heartfelt and sincere” everyone was took her aback.
“I cried I think for every single video,” she said. “I was absolutely shocked.”
DeGroot said his nonprofit has been close with the family and knows how much Liam has been through to get to this point. So, when Silha put out the call for videos, DeGroot said they wanted to go above and beyond for a child who has battled cancer since he was 6.
“It’s taken up a good portion of his
childhood,” DeGroot said. “How can we make it bigger? We wanted to figure out how to do something special.”
Black was the first to answer the call, DeGroot said. In addition to wishing Liam well, Black sings some of the “Jumanji” theme in the video.
Johnson’s agent reached out next, DeGroot said, noting The Rock had a lot of questions and wanted to learn more about Liam’s story before making the video. Johnson also announced he was sending Liam a care package and some tequila for the firefighters.
Once those two were on board, DeGroot said Gadot, Bautista, Coyne-Schofield, O’Heir and others quickly followed.
“To be honest with you, I was floored,” DeGroot said. “We sent out a lot of emails and didn’t think we’d get this kind of response.”
DeGroot said Project Fire Buddies tries to do something special for every Fire Buddy it has, but it takes different forms. Chicago Bulls and Bears fans have been treated to warm-ups with those teams. A Blackhawks fan once got to hang out with Duncan Keith. The organization has also purchased “unattainable” gifts for families.
“We try to go above and beyond,” DeGroot said. “Some of these experiences are priceless. We’re fortunate to be put into this situation. We have these ideas, and we just try to make them happen.”
DeGroot said the attention brought to the organization by the videos, many of which have been posted on the Project Fire Buddies Facebook page, brings in more donations and helps new families in need of support find the volunteer-run organization.
“That’s the blessing that we get from it,” DeGroot said. “Nobody is benefiting from this organization growing other than the families and the kids. People say, ‘This is cool these kids get to do this.’ The word spreads. Parents share the news.”
Silha may not be able to find the words for just how much Project Fire Buddies has made a difference in her family’s lives. But she has not lost sight of what was most important about Dec. 27 for her family: Liam is done with his cancer treatments.
“It just doesn’t feel real,” Silha said. “I’m excited for him to be the kid he was before his diagnosis.”
A few days prior, Dec. 23, Project Fire Buddies was out in force in Oak Forest.
A convoy including firetrucks, an ambulance packed with gifts and a bus transporting members of the 501st Legion Midwest Garrison wearing their Star WarsChristmas best received police escort as it made nine stops in town. At each stop, firefighters from Oak Forest fulfilled the wish lists of children and their families struggling with a variety of hardships.
They delivered hard-to-find PlayStation 5s and mountains of gifts painstakingly sanitized and wrapped, and to the parents $1,000 checks, fulfilling one of DeGroot’s long-term goals of having enough funding to provide the parents some support. All told, Project Fire Buddies delivered $25,000 in gifts and checks to Oak Forest families in roughly two hours, with some help from Stanley Cup champion defenseman Brent Sopel, who has become a friend to the organization in addition to his own foundation’s work.
“We were able to cover almost the entire wish lists and then some,” DeGroot said.
Sopel also took pictures with and signed autographs for the children and their families. And a photographer donated her services for the night, as well as future photo sessions for the families. Everyone wore masks and only limited people went inside certain homes with the gifts, while other meetings took place in driveways.
“I want to make sure everybody’s safe,” DeGroot said.
Just one day prior, the new Oak Lawn chapter of Project Fire Buddies met its first buddy, AJ, a 6-year-old being treated for leukemia.
The chapter similarly rolled up to his house with friends from the 501st Legion, and left AJ and his brother with a PS5 and a heap of other gifts, many of which were donated by Coyne-Schofield and the Schofield Family Foundation.