There is a boy in my town named Tate Schaefer. Tate is in fifth grade. Five weeks ago, he was diagnosed with a rare, inoperable tumor on his brain stem, the worst news for a child and a parent. From what I hear and can imagine, life has been a whirlwind for Tate and his family since then.
There was a benefit for Tate in town last Saturday. I have never met any of the Schaefers and have only lived in town for a couple of months, but I was overwhelmed by what I experienced there. First, the benefit was held in our rec center, which is four basketball courts wide. The entire place was full. There were countless silent auction and live auction items donated for the cause. There were bouncy houses for kids, and food.
The turnout was unbelievable. My daughter, who is the same age as Tate’s sister Teagan, told me that a friend Snapchatted her that they had to wait in line 10 minutes on the highway to get in the parking lot. Our rec center has a large parking lot. It was full. The city had cleared the adjacent soccer fields for people to park. That filled as well, so they made parking spaces on the softball and baseball fields on the other side of the building so that everyone could get in.
When we arrived, the place was packed. It wasn’t quite wall-to-wall people, but pretty close. I knew that there would be a lot of people, but I was not expecting what I experienced. We arrived with about 15 minutes left of the silent auction. My wife looked up and down the aisles quickly and reported that the bids were so high that most items were out of our league.
Soon after we got food, the Schaefer family took the stage. I don’t know how Brad, Tate’s father did it, but he remained composed as he spoke. They were so thankful to all of the people who came out and showed support. He shared a little of their journey, including how Tate had completed 19 of 31 radiation treatments. They are a big sports family. Since their diagnosis, they’ve had opportunity to interact with high profile athletes and teams. Like many in our area, they are Hawkeye fans. They talked about meeting the men’s basketball team, which is now wearing Tater Tough t-shirts for warm-up. The Cyclones are the “other” Iowa college team. Brad shared that the Cyclones are also wearing Tater Tough warm up shirts to show support for Tate, so now the Schaefers are Cyclones fans too.
He shared how many of the area schools, who are our athletic rivals, wear Tater Tough t-shirts at their games to show support. The support for Tate and his family in our area is incredible.
From what Brad said, Tate is a fighter. His spirits are high and he touches everyone around him. He is living his life just as he did before, to the point that they were playing basketball the morning of the benefit and Tate ran into some bleachers. He required stitches in his forehead, but that didn’t take the smile off his face at the benefit or in the photo taken on their way back to town!
I have said many times since moving to this area how incredible this place is. The amount of planning and execution that went into that benefit as well as some other events for Tate is significant. The Schaefers’ friends and supporters do this for them.
I joined the TaterTough Facebook group. I have never experienced a more active group on Facebook. People from all over post every day. It is amazing. Several news organizations from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City have run stories about Tate on tv and in print.
Tate Schaefer’s story so far is a great example of many things: of how a community can come together and support one of its own families in time of need, of the power of the human spirit to not give up in the face of a bad situation, of how a positive attitude can make a big difference.
I used to think that the best life was one where you were left alone to do your own thing. Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed a little of that kind of life. I’ve also seen the negative side of not having people who are close to you that can visit or support you when you need, or that you can support when they need. Family often provides the strongest bonds in that regard, but what do you do when your nearest family member is two hours’ drive away, and most are farther than that? As we are more mobile, and not so tied to our original place, new roots and community are important bonds to form in our new place.
It takes time and effort to create these bonds, but Tate’s situation has highlighted for me just how important they are.
I cannot imagine the emotional and physical roller coaster that the Schaefers are going through, and have ahead of them. Several times Brad said that he didn’t know what kind of purpose God had in this situation. He may never know. One thing that I know is that God has clearly demonstrated to me and I’m sure to others, through the Schaefers, how important both one’s attitude and one’s community are.
I’m glad that the Schaefers have both a strong, positive midset and a strong, caring, supportive community to help them.
I pray for Brad, Darcy, Teagan and Tate. I hope you will too.
If you’re interested, the Schaefers have set up a Go Fund Me page. You can access it here: https://www.gofundme.com/tatertough