LAFD's Station 35 firefighters lifting the spirits of young cancer patients since the 1960s
A firefighter holding up an encouraging sign for a young patient at Children's Hospital Los Angeles from the top of an extended fire engine ladder was uplifting in more ways than one.
The internet was delighted by the recent image of a firefighter holding up an encouraging sign for Bree Hoppe's son, who was about to begin a blood transfusion. The firefighter was at the top of an LAFD ladder extended all the way up to Jaxx's window, where he had been looking out onto the city.
"Wishing You The Best Day Ever! Keep Fighting. Your Friends, Truck 35 LAFD," the sign read.
The unexpected visit sent all of Jaxx and his mother's nervous fears right out the window.
"Jaxx has a very low immune system, so we don't leave our room," Hoppe said. "Moments like this have really helped."
Turns out, this was far from the first time Station 35 had raised the spirits of pediatric patients. The station's firefighters train on a roof near CHLA and often park their engines outside the oncology wing.
"If we get more than three kids that actually wave to us, we are going to put the aerial up, with a sign, and put a little smile on their face," Capt. Andy Ruiz said.
LAFD Station 35 is just blocks away from CHLA, so its been a firehouse tradition to connect with the young patients there since at least the 1960s. And even when the patients recover or move out of state, that boost from the firefighters stays with children like Raylan Montijo, who first met the captain when he was just a year old.
"They have been there for every surgery, every chemo treatment over the last seven and a half years," mother Liz Montijos said.
As for little Jaxx, he now faces his treatments with the help of a fire truck with the number 35 on it, and sleeps with a firefighter toy on his pillow every night.
"The heroes are those young kids up there in these windows, those are the heroes that are fighting," Ruiz said.
