The Arrowbear Lake Fire Department in conjunction with the Arrowbear Lake Firefighters Association is holding a fundraiser for their Fire Chief, Isaiah Hall. An extremely active member of the community and resident of the town of Arrowbear, Chief Hall was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. The firefighters from that department are raising funds to help with very expensive out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by insurance.
To purchase your official patch, click here: http://arrowbear-lake-firefighters-association.mybigcommerce.com/
The association members have designed a special department shoulder patch that encompasses the color orange (leukemia awareness) in lieu of the traditional black, white, yellow and red shoulder patch to help raise funds and show support for Chief Hall. This new patch will be authorized to be worn on department uniforms to show unwavering support and solidarity until the Chief makes a full recovery and is able to return to duty serving the resident of Arrowbear Lake.
The patch will be made available to fire and law enforcement personnel as well as members of the general public wishing to add it to their patch collections and in turn they will be supporting a very important cause.This is the first time a rendition of the department patch has been made available for purchase by the general public. 100% of all raised funds will go directly to the Chief and his family.
A post from his sister, Tiffany Layton, reads as follows:
Most of you know my brother through either his love, passion and commitment of over 20 years of community service at the Arrowbear Lake Fire Department where he is the Fire Chief, or through his love and commitment to Offroad racing with his beloved Desert racing family of So Cal MC and AMA District 37, or maybe just great friends in life as he seems to have made more than a few and takes great pride in knowing each and every one of you.
Our bad dream began February of this year. A routine blood test came back with odd results, which led to another test to confirm that there must be some type of error. Apparantly it was not an error! Then the whirlwind began….. The following 6 weeks were filled with several blood test (monitoring plateletes, white & red blood cell counts), ultra sounds, 2 bone marrow biopsies, blood transfusions and endless hours of praying. As of today, 3/20/18, Isaiah is still awaiting a confirmed treatment plan.
The doctors have diagnosed Isaiah with MDS, Myelodysplastic Syndrome. What is MDS? It is a myeloid (bone marrow) stem cell disorder that gradually affect the ability of a person’s bone marrow to produce normal red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Basically, stem cells in the bone marrow are responsible for producing and forming new blood cells. Red blood cells help transport oxygen. White blood cells protects your body against infections. Platelets help control bleeding and bruising.
What does all of that mean? Like most cancer victims, Isaiah is about to fight the toughest battle of his life.
Those of you that are cancer survivors or are currently fighting the fight, know first hand that no matter how good your insurance may be there are expenses that are simply not covered. With that in mind, you also know that it’s not my brother’s nature to ask for financial help. If it were up to him, he’d prefer a phone call, you to stop by and visit or to include him in your prayers. However, I also know that the last thing he would ever want is to burden Billie Jo and family with overwhelming medical expenses.