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An area military family got a joyous holiday surprise Friday afternoon despite a dire situation. John Freer, a 3-year-old from Langdon, N.D., is spending Christmas at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Fargo, N.D. He started chemotherapy Wednesday to help him battle stage 4 neuroblastoma. John’s dad, Rory, served in the U.S. Air Force.
A North Dakota National Guard-sponsored Military Service Center in Fargo reaches out to all branches and eras of the military to help service members, veterans and their families. Friday’s mission provided another way to do that.
“We’re here to bring some Christmas cheer to the Freer family,” said Jody Harms, the Guard’s Airman Family Readiness Program manager, before heading to the corner of “Warm Way Fuzzy Boulevard” and “Sunset Over Here” on the fourth floor of Sanford.
Col. Rick Gibney, 119th Wing commander, and Vince Dicks, who works at the Military Service Center as an Outreach Team specialist, accompanied Harms. Their arms were loaded with gifts that were donated by other military families as well as members of Soldiers Angels and the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo Chamber Military Affairs Committee.
They all “just wanted to bring some extra cheer into this little boy’s life,” Harms said.
John, a race car fan, didn’t waste a moment before tearing into the gifts. He put his dad and Gibney to work cutting the packages open and before long his hospital bed was laden with cars that surrounded a happy little boy who forgot for just a moment that he’d be doing chemotherapy on Christmas.
An area military family got a joyous holiday surprise Friday afternoon despite a dire situation. John Freer, a 3-year-old from Langdon, N.D., is spending Christmas at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Fargo, N.D. He started chemotherapy Wednesday to help him battle stage 4 neuroblastoma. John’s dad, Rory, served in the U.S. Air Force.
A North Dakota National Guard-sponsored Military Service Center in Fargo reaches out to all branches and eras of the military to help service members, veterans and their families. Friday’s mission provided another way to do that.
“We’re here to bring some Christmas cheer to the Freer family,” said Jody Harms, the Guard’s Airman Family Readiness Program manager, before heading to the corner of “Warm Way Fuzzy Boulevard” and “Sunset Over Here” on the fourth floor of Sanford.
Col. Rick Gibney, 119th Wing commander, and Vince Dicks, who works at the Military Service Center as an Outreach Team specialist, accompanied Harms. Their arms were loaded with gifts that were donated by other military families as well as members of Soldiers Angels and the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo Chamber Military Affairs Committee.
They all “just wanted to bring some extra cheer into this little boy’s life,” Harms said.
John, a race car fan, didn’t waste a moment before tearing into the gifts. He put his dad and Gibney to work cutting the packages open and before long his hospital bed was laden with cars that surrounded a happy little boy who forgot for just a moment that he’d be doing chemotherapy on Christmas.
