Benefit planned to help toddler with bone cancer

Helping Hannah

FENNIMORE - A hallmark of small town living, we see the signs for benefits to defray health crisis costs almost daily. They sadden us and they rally us to the side of our neighbors.

When the benefit is for a child, as it will be on June 30 when BD’s Eagles Nest hosts Helping Hannah, the response is even deeper.

Hannah Rosemeyer, the two-and-a-half year old daughter of Ryan and Lauren Rosemeyer, is currently undergoing treatment for Telangiectatic Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. The toddler was diagnosed on April 4 following multiple visits to doctors after she began displaying difficulty walking in February. Hannah has now finished her eighth week of chemotherapy, which involves hospitalization as doctors monitor her Methotrexate levels before allowing her to return home. In two more weeks, the Fennimore toddler will head into surgery.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. Telangiectatic osteosarcoma is an uncommon variant, accounting for around three-percent of all osteosarcomas. On top of having this rare type of disease, Hannah is much younger than the age range that this disease generally affects.

Lauren is currently on an unpaid leave of absence from Good Samaritan to care for Hannah. She is planning to be off work through January 1. Ryan has missed work at Dairyland Seed and will continue to miss work to care and be there for Hannah and the couple’s other children, Kobe (nine-years-old) and Raiya (six-years-old).

“Before Hannah got sick, you would see the whole family out going for walks around town,” says Lois Dowell, Lauren’s mother. “You don’t see that these days.”

Hannah is currently in and out of the hospital, she says. When the toddler is home, the family has to be very careful to not expose her to germs and viruses, as treatment leaves her immune system weakened.

Even with the support of the employers, the family will incur expenses that insurance will not cover. The Helping Hannah benefit hopes to raise enough to ease some of the worries the young parents and their children face during this time.

The benefit kicks off with a motorcycle ride. Registration is from 10:30 until 11:45 a.m. The cost to participate is $10 per rider, with kickstands up and riders on the road at noon. Santa Claus and Olaf from ‘Frozen’ will be participating in the ride, which is scheduled to drive past Hannah’s home on their way out of town in a display of support and love.

A silent auction and door prizes will be awarded throughout the day, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and running through 6 p.m. A live auction and raffle will be held at 6 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Tickets are available throughout the day.

BD’s Eagles Nest will provide evening entertainment and the adjoining street will be closed off for the benefit.

The biking community is a close-knit and giving community, explained Jeff Faust. After years of participating in and organizing rides, the family friend knew this was a community he could reach out to for help.

Jeff reached out to BD about staging a ride from the Eagles Nest, receiving an immediate yes. He says BD and Janelle Daniels, “have been extremely supportive,” and the response as he started reaching out to organize the event has been, “overwhelming.”

Jeff was visibly moved recounting for the response to Helping Hannah. Noting that benefits like this are part of how small communities work, he points to his own past. In 2000, Jeff lost a leg in an accident. The help he received from friends and family kept his family and home together. He says Helping Hannah is, “my way of giving back.”

Jeff and Lois can already rattle off an impressive list of donors to the event. Lois says people interested in the auctions will find sports memorabilia donated by Jim Prochaska and the Fennimore Softball Team and signed hats from Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy. Universal Forest Products in Prairie du Chien have donated composite decking for a 10’x12’ deck.

The list is impressive and also includes everything from a Badger basket to professional wildlife photos to fishing packages and gift certificates and more. Jeff is posting items to the benefit Facebook page, http://ow.ly/33Dt30ksWVL, as they come in.

Donations are continuing to be accepted. To make a donation or for more information about the ride, contact Jeff at 608-391-2461.

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