GOSHEN —
Lisa Crawford wasn’t looking for a handout when she stopped by the College Avenue Fire Station last February. She wanted to let the firemen know about the upcoming Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Muscle Walk and hoped they might donate a little to help find a cure.
Ever since her 9-year-old son Brendon was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a 100 percent fatal disease, Lisa has been on a quest to see that a cure is found before she loses her son.
This severe, progressive muscle-wasting condition causes most children to be wheelchair bound by the time they are 12. Life expectancy is late teens to early 20s.
What Lisa got when she entered that fire station was not only money to donate to the MDA Muscle Walk, but financial assistance for her family and a friendship between firemen and family that will stay the course.
“She didn’t ask us for help,” said Fireman Courtney Snyder. “But we were looking for someone in the community who we could support in some way.”
Snyder got the OK from the Goshen Professional Fire Fighters Local 1443 and the station has helped the family with its frequent trips to Cincinnati for doctor’s visits.
Brendon loves to visit the fire station — just a few blocks from his home — and hang out with his new friends. He also loves to look at the fire trucks and ambulance close up. Sometimes he even gets a sandwich out of the deal.
“Every time the trucks go by the house Brendon says, ‘There goes my friends,’” Crawford said. “He wants to stop by more than I can make happen.”
During a recent late afternoon visit, several of the firemen took out a brand new truck and extended the ladder for Brendon, his mom and his dad, Mark, to check out.
Brendon often brings by pictures he has drawn and his mom makes treats for the firemen.
“I so appreciate the support and kindness they’ve shown us,” Crawford said.
Snyder agrees that it’s a special relationship.
“We want to be there for the family,” Snyder said. “We want to be in Brendon’s life as long a possible.”
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Related Photos
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Goshen firefighter Jeff Frank shows Brendon Crawford how the spotlights on the ladder work. THE GOSHEN NEWS
Goshen fire fighters take boy with muscular dystrophy under their wing
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