A Waterdown teenager held a concert and is selling t-shirts to assistance his ideal friend fight leukemia.
Fourteen-year-old Lucas Hallam gained the t-shirts after finding out his ideal friend, Jacob Sawyer, was diagnosed along with the ailment late last year.
Hallam, that moved to Waterdown after living in Bracebridge, wanted to do something to assistance out Sawyer, that still lives in cottage country.
“I wanted to actually make a change,” Hallam explained. “I simply decided to begin raising your hard earned cash for him.”
The Waterdown District Higher School student said he does a great deal of art and functions for Paul Terpstra, that runs Famous Printing.
“I created the t-shirts myself – I drew them in my sketchbook, Photoshopped it then printed them,” he explained, noting he has actually printed 90 of the ‘Hearts 4 Jacob’ shirts. So far, he’s sold concerning half of them.
Hallam noted it was hard to know Jacob had leukemia. “I wasn’t in the ideal state of thoughts for enjoy a week or so,” he said. “I had a great deal of anxiety attacks then when I started executing the fundraising stuff, it started obtaining better, due to the fact that I’m not simply sitting below executing nothing.
“I may be able to actually assistance him or her grab through it.”
Hallam said the pair have actually been ideal friends for concerning 5 years. “Prior to I moved to Waterdown, he was actually my just friend,” he said.
Hallam noted numerous of his friends in Waterdown have actually being buying the t-shirts, despite the fact that they could just have actually met Jacob when at most.
While he hasn’t spoken to Jacob considerably because the fundraising started, Hallam said he knows Jacob appreciates his work.
Jacob’s mom Karen said the fund raising is a significant help.
“I’m a solitary mom,” she explained. “I have actually two kids, 18 and 14, my son diagnosed along with (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and I recently went through bankruptcy.”
She noted she now lives along with her elderly parents, to assistance them care for her 40-year-old brother along with cystic fibrosis and her sister along with Down syndrome.
“My son and I went house to manage them and within the last couple of months of being there to assistance be house caretakers for them, he’s been diagnosed along with leukemia,” Sawyer said. “So every one of the assistance throughout the town of Bracebridge, where I’m from and down below in Hamilton location it’s overwhelming to…understand exactly how numerous individuals truly do care.”
She noted Jacob was diagnosed along with leukemia Dec. 30.
So far, she said, points are going well in his treatment.
“He’s taking to treatment well,” she said, noting treatment will certainly take 3 years. “They’re looking at eight months of intense treatments, however it’s a 3 year treatment.”
Sawyer noted numerous of the individuals in the Waterdown location haven’t met Jacob.
“It’s quite overwhelming for Jacob and I, and his sister,” she said of the support.
Hallam’s grandmother Jannine Ambridge, whom he lives with, noted the relocate to Waterdown was challenging on the teenager, in portion due to the fact that he was leaving his friend Jacob.
Ambridge said once Hallam discovered out his friend was sick and started making t-shirts, her friends decided to hold a concert Feb. 6 at their Waterdown home.
She noted the concert was just advertised through word of mouth, due to the size of the house.
“Every little thing was donated, the meals and the wine, everyone came to assistance decorate,” she said. “Just what amazed me two-fold, was the honest truth that through Facebook and word of mouth, every one of these individuals came to support Jacob, that they didn’t also know.
“It was simply due to the fact that they knew a person that knew Lucas or myself and the story is so sad,” she continued.
“This is the phenomenal part: a 14-year-old started this to assistance his friend. It simply escalated – the chance and the assistance that Jacob and his mother have actually received from a town far from where they live – it’s quite sweet.”
Thus far, through t-shirt sales and the concert, they’ve raised close to $2,500, said Ambridge. She added numerous of the t-shirts are likewise for sale in Bracebridge.
There’s likewise a Go Fund Me campaign that was started in Waterdown, too as in Bracebridge. For much more article or to donate visit https://http://ift.tt/1OEqwV9 or https://http://ift.tt/1UrmJBU.
