Firefighters come to the rescue in another way

Each Christmas, the firefighters in the first shift at Hoffman Estates Fire Station 23 have a gift exchange.

But this year, they tried something different.

Citing the tough economic times, firefighters Keith Tompkins, Ray Ritter, Chad Nevius and Scott Czaplicki and Lt. Jim Long decided to team up to buy gifts for a needy family.

Their search led them to Frank C. Whiteley Elementary School in Hoffman Estates.

"They had a couple of needy families there," Tompkins said. "But they also suggested that this family, aside from being needy, also has a sick son."

Through a social worker, the men found the Bakar family, who lived only a few blocks away in the basement of a house.

On Sunday morning, a fire engine and ambulance rode over to visit Bibi Bakar and her 11-year-old son, Afraz.

Afraz, who came to the United States in 2005 from Guyana with his mother, father and two older brothers, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006. Afraz is a fifth-grader at Whiteley but cannot go to school because of his illness. He said he feels weak, dizzy and nauseous and suffers from constant pain.

He is receiving treatment at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, which include doses of radiation that "tastes like Clorox bleach."

Afraz said, "My mom takes care of me, and sometimes she has to stay up with me at night, even though she had to go to work during the day."

Afraz was smiling with joy Sunday as he unwrapped the gifts: a Nerf gun, remote-controlled helicopter, PlayStation 2 games and the DVD game "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?"

"Oh, I like this show," he said, after receiving the last gift.

Altogether, with each firefighter chipping in $50, the men on the shift were able to purchase $150 in toys and a $100 Jewel gift card for the family.

Finding a needy family was something of a "slippery slope," said Lt. Long. "The schools are kind of obligated not to give out any kind of information like that. More times than not, the families, most importantly the parents, aren't going to come up with information saying, 'We're needy' or 'We're having hard times.'"

He gave credit to Tompkins for doing the leg work. Tompkins said he could identify with Afraz's situation: Tompkins' own son, now 19, had lymphoma when he was Afraz's age.

As Afraz, too weak to stand up, rested on a pillow on the couch, Tompkins told him, "I know what you're going through, because my son had lymphoma."

"I'm thankful for whatever they give (Afraz) to make him happy and comfortable," said his mother, who works as a housekeeper in Arlington Heights, "because he is not feeling well, and I think that's going to comfort him when I go to work.

"Whatever you give me I appreciate," she added.