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Lawsons home for holidays [UPDATED]
Published 11:00am Friday, December 28, 2012 Updated 11:00am Friday, December 28, 2012“I’ll be home for Christmas” took on a whole new meaning to one local boy fighting cancer. The community has rallied around Isaiah Lawson and helped build he and his family a new house to meet the requirements necessary to give the 4-year-old a shot at a normal life.
The lofty goal from the beginning of the project was to have Isaiah moved into his new house by Christmas, and with the incredible support of local businesses and individuals, the goal was met, Isaiah’s father Dan said.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “We were amazed we got to move in so fast. We just love it. It’s better than we ever could have expected.”
Dan took Isaiah back to Fergus Falls from treatment at Sanford Health on Dec. 23, and the family of five was able to be together on Christmas.
“We got to sit down and have a family dinner, look out the window and see the yard,” he said. “It’s definitely starting to feel like home.”
Isaiah’s mother Christine said the house is not about them. Instead, it’s a representation of what a community can do when it pulls together for a common cause.
“We live in a community of 13,000, and it shrinks it down to a personal level,” she said. “This was never a house build for just us. This was built to show people that hope is real.”
Community members and local businesses raised more than 80 percent of the total cost of the house, and funds are still coming in. Those who want to contribute can bring donations to Bank of the West into the Isaiah Lawson Building Fund.
So far, Isaiah has been claiming the new house as his own, and Dan said he doesn’t have any problem with that.
“He calls it ‘his new house,’ which is fine because everybody has been calling it his house since the beginning.”
Isaiah needs the house to meet 13 special requirements to keep him healthy and cancer free. The house doesn’t have a basement, carpet or regular insulation among other things.
Isaiah has three rounds of immunotherapy left, and then he will need to pass three tests over nine months before doctors can officially call him cancer free.
Happy New Year, Isaiah!