As 9-year-old Kacey Douglas opened gift after gift in the driveway a few days before Christmas, he and his family were all smiles. So were a group of firefighters from Markham, who helped Santa with the bountiful delivery of presents through their chapter of Project Fire Buddies.
Kacey received games for his Nintendo Switch, a Mario Kart steering wheel, tablet, stylus, keyboard and more. But none of it could top the gift he received before the firefighters arrived.
“He got some good news,” said Horace Douglas, Kacey’s father. “His biopsy came back negative from the last test.”
Kacey has endured three liver transplants to date and had been diagnosed with cancer, in addition to other health issues, according to Anthony Butera, the Markham chapter president of Project Fire Buddies. Kacey became the 1-year-old chapter’s first and thus far only Fire Buddy this summer after Alderwoman Wanda Jean McDowell connected the organization and the family.
“They’ve been awesome,” Horace Douglas said. “This has been a whole other lifeline for us right now.”
Oak Forest-based Project Fire Buddies sends firetrucks and firefighters to the homes of children suffering from serious illnesses. The firefighters also try to make holidays particularly special by buying big-ticket gifts their Buddies might not otherwise receive.
Markham firefighters this summer brought the vehicles out with a wave of gifts including a Nintendo Switch to welcome Kacey to the Fire Buddies. The organization tries to maintain relationships with the families they serve, rather than providing one-time support, so the Markham Chapter has been in contact with the family ever since. Butera said firefighters and their families returned earlier this winter to decorate the house after it was too late to get Kacey on the list for the Lights & Ladders Brigade.
“I said, ‘Let’s keep it local then,'” Butera said. “Let’s go buy some lights and let’s go decorate Kacey’s house. We’ll do it ourselves. We’ll put together our own Lights & Ladders. So that’s what we did.”
They took pictures of the home, went to home improvement stores for supplies and then decorated the house.
“Just to see the kids jumping up and down in the window, Kacey and his brother, they were so excited that we were just out there,” Butera said. “To do something like that just makes you feel good.”
What has stunned Horace Douglas most is the continued show of support.
“They’ve been here for us,” he said. “They ain’t gone anywhere. That’s the amazing part.”
In addition to the gifts Project Fire Buddies brought out for Kacey, Butera said McDowell purchased a remote control car and VTech educational toy for Khole, Kacey’s 7-year-old brother. The city also helped to secure winter coats and hats for the children.
Markham media director Michael Taylor said it has been a glowing example of everyone in the community rallying around Kacey and the family.
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“They’ve never left little Kacey’s side,” Taylor said. “Usually people step in and they bless and then they go away. They’ve been with little Kacey all the way through. It’s just a great thing.
“My hat goes off to the city of Markham and the mayor and Fire Buddies all working together to make this a spectacular day for this young man. The best Christmas gift is to find out that his cancer has gone into remission.”
Butera, the union president for the Markham firefighters, said he got involved with Project Fire Buddies because he was looking for other ways to give back to the community beyond the work they do. And the first year of their involvement has been “pretty great,” a welcome contrast to some of the heartbreak and traumatic experiences the job entails.
“We always see people in their worst time when we’re going to a call or a kid’s sick or a fire or a car accident,” he said. “To see something positive out there, it just makes us smile.”
Ryan Ballard, an Oak Forest firefighter who is chief operating officer for Project Fire Buddies, said 2022 has been the busiest year yet for the organization because of its expansion.
“It’s been absolutely remarkable,” he said. “It definitely means a lot watching this thing grow from just one chapter in Oak Forest to now 35 to end 2022. Just seeing a smile on one kid’s face makes everything we do worth it.”
The next big thing for Project Fire Buddies is the organization’s first gala, set for Feb. 25 at the Tinley Park Convention Center.
“The way we’re expanding, it’s a necessity to get the funds for all these kids,” Butera said.
Information about the organization and gala is at projectfirebuddies.org.
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.