GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – A Green Cove Springs boy battling brain cancer now has a brand-new playset thanks to a local charity.
A simple smile by 7-year-old Dean while going back and forth on his new swing spoke volumes.
Dean is battling brain cancer but spent early Thursday afternoon enjoying his new playset built by volunteers with a charity called Roc Solid Foundation.
His mother, Shelby Fidler, said witnessing that was breathtaking.
“He is just so happy,” Fidler said of her son. “It would be nice to have an area where we know it is safe for him to come and be able to play outside.”
Dean was diagnosed with a brain tumor in late February this year after having severe headaches in January.
He is going through chemotherapy now, which he started in June, and has three more rounds left.
Fidler said Dean had brain surgery to remove the tumor but that robbed him of his ability to walk and speak, which she says he is working to learn again.
But Fidler said the surgery did not take Dean’s joy.
“He is just the strongest kid I know because he always has a smile on his face,” she said. “All of the nurses comment on his smile. Throughout everything, he has a smile. Even when he needs to be accessed through his port, he just looks at you and smiles while you do it.”
More than a dozen volunteers with Roc Solid Foundation and Amazon, who sponsored the build spent just shy of three hours putting it together.
Roc Solid Foundation is a charity that builds playsets for children with cancer all across the country.
The playset build for Dean has a rock wall, slide and special swing that he can use.
Robin Eikell is the build leader. She said there is no greater feeling than to see how kids like Dean react to their new playset.
“It is what fills my cup,” Eikell said. “We built one [Wednesday] in Orlando, and the little girl climbed on the rock wall, and looked at me and said, ‘Best day ever.’ When they are doing that, they are not thinking about cancer. Just the ability to change a life in three hours of time. There is no greater feeling.”
“We have not been able to take [Dean] to any parks recently,” Fidler said. “One, because of the cancer treatments and two, because it is hard to find accessible things for him. It just means the world because he will be able to be on the special swing that he will be able to swing in.”
That all changes now for this special kid who loves his bubbles, all things Spider-Man, baseball and dogs.
The Roc Solid Foundation is on a mission to build 30 playsets over the next three days. That includes building one Friday morning for a 4-year-old who has leukemia in Glen Saint Mary.
Click here to support Dean and his family during this difficult time. If you’d like to read updates on Dean’s journey, visit this Facebook page.