Fundraiser seeks to help Lake in the Hills police officer diagnosed with rare blood cancer

Lake in the Hills police officer Mike Domagala said he wanted to be a police officer since he was about 10 years old just because he "wanted to help people."

For about 20 years, the lifelong McHenry County resident and Crystal Lake South High School graduate was able to do just that.

For the first eight years of his career, Domagala was a police officer in Fox River Grove. In 2012, he joined the Lake in the Hills Police Department.

"(Police work) is something different every day and you get to help people," said Domagala, who lives in Cary with his wife, Angie, and three children ages 5, 13 and 16. "It is something that always interested me ... always helping people. I'm always there for people."

He caught his share of criminals but said he especially loved his work when engaging with the community.

"If I'd see a kid out playing basketball, I would get out of the car and go play with him," he said.

Domagala even met his wife while he was working as a police officer. Angie's daughter, then 5, would run up to his squad car asking for stickers as Angie walked her to school.

But it seems those days of patrolling the community are over.

Domagala, 43, is battling multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. He was diagnosed in July after an MRI was done to find the culprit of a nagging lower back pain.

Domagala thought the pain was due to strenuous yard work. He was surprised when he learned the images showed lesions all over his pelvic bone, he said.

That discovery has led to endless tests, scans, hospital stays, chemotherapy pills and injections, infusions and bone marrow biopsies, as well as a stem cell transplant in December.

Domagala, who also has lived with Type 1 diabetes for the past 30 years, told his doctors at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago he would do anything "that makes me live longer."

During the early treatments, he continued to work - not out on the streets, but in the office, which was not a permanent job.

"I can't go back to work because of the physical aspects of the job," he said.

The family is living off savings to pay the bills and awaiting disability pay, which will be just half of Domagala's actual salary. To cover the enormous costs of his monthly medical bills and insure his family, he has taken out Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act health insurance, costing him more than $2,200 a month.

So the tables have turned, and the helper has become the recipient of others willing to help him.

Over the past few months, Domagala has felt the love and support of his and other police departments, the community and even strangers who donated to his GoFundMe account.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the fund, started by friend and fellow Lake in the Hills police officer Eric Watters, raised $27,165 of its $50,000 goal.

Domagala described Watters as his "guardian angel."

"He's been my lifesaver," Domagala said.

Watters worked with Domagala for about 13 years and said he just wanted to help.

"He is just one of those all-around great guys that is there for his family," Watters said. "He is very friendly, very helpful. I figured anything we can do to help him out."

Lake in the Hills police officer John Arient shared Watters' sentiment, describing Domagala as a positive family man committed to beating his cancer.

"He maintains a positive attitude about it, (he has) kind of that 'winning' attitude," Arient said. "It is a testament to his character."

Of the generous donations, Domagala said, "I am overwhelmed. I am humbled. I am grateful. It is amazing. The amount of support keeps me going."

Among the donors is Howard Keltner, whose son, McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Keltner, was killed in 2019 by gunfire in the line of duty outside a Rockford hotel.

"I do not know him personally ... I'm just trying to pay it back," Keltner said of the thousands of people who gave emotionally and financially to his family after his son was killed.

Keltner said he knows whatever benefits Domagala currently is receiving eventually will run out.

"To know this poor guy has to take care of himself and his family, ... I'm just trying to help this guy out. We are just trying to pay back everything that we were given. We can't give thousands of dollars, but a little bit here and there just helps. This is a good community. With all the support we got, I'd like to see others get it, too."

Angie Domagala said the news of her husband's diagnosis was "devastating."

"But I will say (that) between family and the community, (we) feel the love and support," she said. "I could not ask for anything more from either family or community."

The past few months have shown Mike Domagala, who often encountered people at their worst during his work as a police officer, that "there still is good in people."

"I see the bad side of people most of the time (in this profession)," he said. "But for the most part, people are good and they want to be good, when it comes down to it. And when they want to help someone they do. It's been amazing."