Bears Make Wish Come True

NFL Network

The Chicago Bears recently helped make a Northbrook boy's wish come true!  

10-year-old Collin Wehr loves the Bears and has always dreamed of becoming an NFL Network reporter covering his favorite team.  

Thanks to Make-A-Wish Foundation, his dream came true! Collin got to spend a day with the Chicago Bears as a real NFL Network reporter! 

It was a special day for Collin, who has been fighting for his life ever since being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in January 2010.  For one special day, he got to forget about the surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy.  

You can watch the happy cub reporter at work in several NFL Network segments.  This clip highlights Collin's big day with the Chicago Bears.   Here, he interviews Charles "Peanut" Tillman and finds out how he got his nickname.  And in this video, he does a Top 10 list of his favorite NFL Network sportscasters.  Collin does such a great job!!

Photo from www.BecauseOfCollin.org

Click here to learn more about Collin and to find out how you can help his family manage the costs of all his care.  Friends will be holding a fundraiser on Sunday, October 23rd from noon until 3 p.m. at Marcellos in Northbrook!

Blind Man Bikes For Charity

Photo from Elmhurst Patch

A blind man from Elmhurst finished a 100 mile to bike ride to help raise funds for a charity that provides bicycles to people living in poverty.

Ed Hill joined 650 other riders for the charity bike ride that started at Wrigley Field and ended at Miller Park in Milwaukee.  He was able to make the journey with the help of his brother, Bruce.  The two rode on a tandem bicycle for the entire ride. 

In addition to helping a great cause, Hill also hopes his ride shows people that disabilities don't have to hold you back.  Here's what he told Trib Local:

“I think I present a role model to the rest of the world with disabilities to show there are far more things we can do than we can’t do.  I hope that people begin to understand people with disabilities are people first and the disability is something they deal with second.”

The funds raised from the event will go to World Bicycle Relief, which provides bikes to people across the world living in poverty. 

Check out articles about Ed Hill and the ride at TribLocal and Elmhurst Patch

Radiothon Raises $1.8 Million

This weekend, a Chicago radio show raised $1.8 million dollars for Children’s Memorial Hospital!  It’s the 12^th year in a row that The Eric and Kathy Morning Show on 101.9 The Mix brought in big bucks for the hospital with its 36 Hour Radiothon. 

I was in the hospital lobby for the final hours of the radiothon on Saturday and saw the amazing impact that the hospital has on families.  Take a look:

I learned so much about the wonderful people highlighted in this story.  Here is a little more about Mackenzie and Ollie:

*Mackenzie:  There is a fund set up to assist with Mackenzie's transplant related expenses. CLICK HERE to donate! You can also watch all of Mackenzie's video blogs at that link and follow her on her journey!  She's a senior in high school now and hopes to attend Notre Dame next fall.  

*Ollie: Debi Tibbles wrote a book about her son's journey called "All Aboard! How Ollie Tibbles Became A Train".  When Debi asked her son what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he wanted to be a train:)  With the help of Make A Wish Foundation, Ollie Tibbles is now a train!  Metra's Engine 401 is nicknamed "Ollie".  Watch for it on the tracks!

Stranger Saves IL Veteran

Photo: Michael Tercha/Tribune

A Vietnam veteran from LaSalle just met the stranger who saved his life.

59-year-old  Thomas Yepsen got the chance to thank Tricia McElhone in person on Sunday for giving him her bone marrow. 

Yepsen got the transplant in 2009, after nearly 2 years of suffering with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There were only 2 people (out of 9 million people on the donor registry!) who were potential donor matches for Yepsen. 

McElhone joined the registry years earlier when a neighbor was diagnosed with leukemia.  When the Florida woman found out much later that she was a match for a stranger miles away, she stepped up and decided to donate her bone marrow to the man.  Her compassion and selflessness saved his life! 

Check out a full story about the meeting in the Chicago Tribune: LaSalle man meets stranger whose bone marrow saved his life

Hoops for the SEALs

Photo from McLean Patch

This story comes to us from outside the Chicago area, but still close enough (and good enough!) to share;) 

Over Labor Day Weekend, a twelve-year-old boy from McLean raised about $31,000 for the Navy SEAL Foundation by shooting baskets in his driveway! 

Will Thomas wanted to help the families of the Navy SEALs who were killed in Afghanistan on August 6th.  He has no connection to the SEALs, just a desire to give back.  

Thomas pledged to make 17,000 baskets in his driveway over Labor Day Weekend and got lots of friends and community members to support him with donations.  He ended up making 20,317 baskets in 50 hours!!  All the money he raised will help provide support to families of the Navy SEALS.

Thomas told the Mclean Patch that when he got tired, he thought about what the SEALs went through and what their families are enduring.   It's pretty awesome that one seventh grader can make such a big difference-- a $31,000 difference!!

Donations are still being accepted to help the Navy Seal Foundation.   CLICK HERE to donate and be sure to select that you're supporting "Operation Hawkeye".

See a full story about Will Thomas and his amazing fundraising in the McLean Patch: McLean Seventh Grader Shoots and Scores for Navy SEALs.  And check out a story about it at CNN too:

Diagnosed Too Young

A young woman from the Chicago area found herself in the fight of her life just days before her wedding.
  

Ten days before she was set to say "I do" doctors told Roopa Desai she had a brain aneurysm.  Then several days later, she  learned she also had a blood clot in her lungs. 

See how Roopa fought and survived two life threatening illnesses and how she's now using her story to help others:

Check out Roopa's website, Diagnosed Too Young

"I know what it was like to feel like I was about to die.  And then to have this second chance at life...  I want to give hope to people at a time where you have very little hope."

Roopa has planned a 5K Run/1 Mile Walk with another young brain aneurysm survivor in the Chicago area named Lauren. CLICK HERE to find out how to sign up for the First Annual Brain Aneurysm Step For Hope. It will take place on Saturday, September, 24 at Armstrong Park in Carol Stream. All proceeds will go directly to The Brain Aneurysm Foundation.

I'll be there for the race! Hope to see you there, too:)