Saturday night a community came together on Orchard lane in Levittown for an early Christmas celebration for a young boy suffering with a terminal brain cancer that has a mother inspired with hope.
Hundreds gathered as fire trucks red glare with sirens cut through the bone chilling cold for 4-year-old Franky, MyFoxPhilly reported.
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“I was in the house making gingerbread cookies and I called Dawn (Soley) to ask if she knew when the fire trucks were coming through with Santa, and there she is leading the parade,” Franky’s mother Tiffany Fusco said, holding back as best she could her tears.
Members of the Levittown 2 and Edgely fire companies were there with Santa, Superman and gifts for the early Christmas surprise, social media posts said.
Fusco said last week she was told by Franky’s doctors he had little time left, as his tumor had grown 25 percent bigger and that she should give her son the best Christmas she could.
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Fusco who is very close with Soley shared the news with her and that’s when the Christmas surprise went into full gear secretly.
Soley, who lost a son six years ago, has dedicated herself to families that have lost children runs a yearly benefit called the Annual Jacob Solely Jr. Memorial Benefit for a Needy Child said last week she wanted to make sure to do her part for Frankie and his family if this was going to be his last Christmas.
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“For the last six years we’ve focused on a family in need,” Soley said, :and Frankie was this years benefactor. With circumstances changed and uncertainty about Frankie we had to do something for him now… For Christmas.”
Fusco, who refuses to give up hope, said she’s still looking for experimental trials for Frankie in an effort to “give us more time.”
“Today (Sunday) was first time I woke up happy in a long while because of last night,” Fusco said. “I refuse to give up hope. There has to be something out there, some trial we can get Frankie into.”
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Facebook lit up with posts of encouragement, support and prayers for Franky on Sunday. Fusco said she was overwhelmed by the support.
Franky has Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), which there is no known cure for the brain stem cancer that affects children.
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According to WEB MD, chemotherapy is the most effective form of treatment for DIPG, however, in 90 percent of the cases the treatment extends the patients life by only 18 months.
Fusco holding back waves of emotion said, “what the community did for Frankie was beautiful. I’m amazed that a little boy could cause such a response.”
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Now Fusco hopes the medical community can respond in kind with a surprise of their own – an experimental trial Franky can get in to.
The community is welcome to a spiritual prayer service for Frankie on Saturday December 21,2013 at Queen of the Universe, 2443 Trenton Rd, Levittown. The service begins at 5:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend the service that is asking for a “miracle.”
