A Day for Tae
PORT CLINTON - It wasn't hard to miss the screaming sirens and convoy of military vehicles parading through downtown Port Clinton on Tuesday.
While parades are usually reserved for holidays and festivals, Tuesday's had special meaning for a sick Port Clinton boy and his family.
In the last six months, Diontae "Tae" Smith, 4, has endured 33 radiation treatments, major brain tumor surgery, a blood transfusion and is now undergoing chemotherapy treatments in order to combat his Stage IV glioblastoma brain cancer.
On Monday, he had his tenth chemo treatment and spent the whole way home from Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland throwing up in the car and then sleeping when he got home.
The treatments for the incurable brain cancer are to prolong his life, jolted in April by a brain cancer diagnosis before he even began school at Bataan Primary School, his mother Brandy Lagasse said.
Tae has an estimated 24 months to live from his diagnosis date in April.
Tuesday was all about putting a smile back on Tae's face, as a group of military vehicle drivers, local law enforcement and emergency responders, and a caring community member organized a day just for Tae, complete with a parade, the firing of a canon, a pizza party and a visit from Santa Claus.
"Tae's worth it," the day's organizer Richard Fultz said. "He's a great kid. This is all about him. He's my little buddy."
Fultz, after suffering medical setbacks and retiring, said he has dedicated his life to helping children like Tae and their familes to have the best day possible, even when things don't feel very great.
On Tuesday afternoon, Fultz and members of the Firelands Military Vehicle Group, escorted by Police Chief Rob Hickman and Fire Chief Kent Johnson, drove over to the Lagasse-Smith house on Garfield and picked the young boy up for his special day.
Santa Claus was along for the ride, surprising Tae with a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle plush blanket, his favorite thing besides military vehicles.
From there, Tae was treated to a ride in FMVG member Bob Michael's Korean Conflict-era Jeep with his family through downtown Port Clinton and then down to Bataan Primary School, where the school's 400-plus students and staff eagerly cheered his name and waved.
"Those are my friends!" Tae said as he waved to familiar faces from his neighborhood.
After circling back to say hi and wave to the students again, Tae and company were brought to Waterworks Park, for a special treat.
It was there Tae pulled the rope to fire a WWII- era 37mm Anti-Tank canon, with permission from the police and fire chiefs and the guidance of Pat Thompson from Firelands Military Vehicle Group.
"You get to do something even Santa Claus hasn't gotten to do before," Santa told the boy, sparking a smile.
Firelands member Dave Witter said the group was happy to put a smile on Tae's face, along with his family's. They made him an official member of FMVG.
"Tae's a good kid, his parents are great people," Witter said. "This means something to all of us"
About a month ago, Lagasse brought Tae to Witter's house to let him ride around in his military Jeep and check out his collection of military ammunition and memorabilia.
"He's touched my heart so much," Witter said.
Throughout the day, Tae's smile grew bigger and he began sticking his tongue out and giving thumbs-up for pictures with the group, the police and fire chief, Fultz and his family.
Lagasse said it was days like Tuesday that touch her soul and remind her of the amazing people in the community.
Tae's father, Alex Smith, is in remission from cancer and his older brother Dalton Laporte-Lagasse suffered from Chiari malformation, a condition in which the skull is misshapen and presses the brain down the spinal canal.
Around this time last year, Tae began running into things, his balance was off and he began to have accidents, Lagasse said.
After a misdiagnosis in Toledo, an MRI in Cleveland showed what the family had feared - a tumor about the size of a grapefruit was growing on the back of Tae's head.
"At first you don't grasp it, you can't comprehend it, then you just lose it," Lagasse said.
After undergoing radiation, surgery to remove part of the tumor and a blood transfusion in Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and now chemotherapy, the family is leaning on their faith and those around them to get through each day.
"Our faith brings us strength, we count each blessing. The journey is not over," she said.
The family has a Facebook page in order to keep people updated on Tae's condition and a friend set up a GoFundMe to help with the family's expenses, including trips back and forth between hospitals.
"This is what I want him to see, I want him to see how amazing the world and how people can be," Lagasse said of Tuesday's event.
Smith's father, who is an employee of HG Landscaping, said he was thankful for his bosses for allowing him to spend time with his son and support him, as well as the community for banding together to make their "baby" smile.
"This hits my soul," Lagasse said. "This love, this compassion. It shows that no one fights alone."
jdenton@gannett.com
419-734-7506
Twitter: @jessicadentonNH
PRAY FOR TAE
Facebook page: "Pray for Tae" https://www.facebook.com/Lovefortae/
GoFundMe page: "Fighting for Tae Smith" https://www.gofundme.com/txc4e8zg