Fellow Firefighter Family needs our support

By: Joan LaFemina

Source: GoFundMe page for the Swanson family: Eric’s Treatment Fund

Meet the Swanson family, your typical great parents and two terrific kids. Father Dan has been a volunteer firefighter who served his community with the Patchogue Fire Department and more recently with the Rocky Point Fire Department. He had to give up volunteering to devote more time to family when his now 4-year-old son Eric was diagnosed Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) 2 years ago. LCH causes many symptoms throughout Eric’s body. Essentially LCH revs up his immune system and this can cause tumors and other effects. Chemotherapy is one of his treatments.

Find out more about LCH by watching this YouTube video from Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center with one of Eric’s treating doctors.

Q&A: What is histiocytosis? | Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers

How can you help? By purchasing a ticket to attend a fun Cinco de Mayo event on May 5^th at the Waterview in Port Jefferson, by contributing to or sharing the family’s gofundme page or by sharing the fundraising event page. All sharing creates awareness and when facing a rare diagnosis like LCH, creating awareness helps.

Any funds raised will help them in the ongoing challenges that long-term medical treatment can bring.

Eric’s Mom Cindy has provided updates:

Update 13

Many of you already know and are actively following Eric’s Facebook page entitled “Eric’s road to Recovery” … Some of you may be unaware that Eric relapsed this past September. He had recessing gums, followed by cradle cap, and within weeks of the first symptoms a tumor ate a dime sized hole in his skull, and another fractured his pelvis. He has since been put on a harsher chemo regimen and tomorrow will be the end of cycle number 6. We are adding on an additional oral chemo this month to help with some residual symptoms. In February, we flew to Houston to the world’s leading LCH expert at Texas Children’s Hospital and Eric is in very good hands. We are receiving treatment at home under Stony Brook but with Texas making most of the decisions. We appreciate all of the love and support that we have received from you all. We ask that you all continue to keep Eric in your thoughts and prayers.
Update 14

“… It has been over 2 years since our lives were turned upside down, and we are thankful every day for Eric’s strength and courage. He has endured so much pain and hardship for most of his life and yet he still manages to have a smile of his face and be a happy little boy. We have recently added an oral chemotherapy to his treatment regimen on top of the infusion chemo. We are hoping that this will help put his LCH at bay. He still has many more months and possibly years of treatment ahead of him. We are grateful for all of the support we have gotten from all of you. We are truly blessed!

The fundraiser is on May 5th from 3-7 at the beautiful Waterview in Port Jefferson.

Full Buffet, Chinese Auction, DJ, Dancing, and More!

Children under 10 are free. Below is a link to purchase tickets. Please pass this on to your friends and family. In situations like this, it takes a village. Thank you for being a part of our village!!!
Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/640723879693284/?ti=ia

Let us be your trusted adviser, to get your personal or business insurance needs in order!  Call Hometown Insurance at 1-800-568-SAVE (7283) or email us at service@hometowninsurance.com