'Prayers and support and love': Bloomingdale community rallies around boy with rare cancer
Joey Burdi has spent much of his life in and out of hospitals.
He wore “I am brave” socks and space rocket pajamas when he started another intense round of chemotherapy last month.
His preschool gave him toys, stickers and coloring books to help Joey get through long periods of treatment. He's only 3 years old, and he has an aggressive and rare form of cancer.
“He's not here, but we want him to feel supported,” his principal, Heather Santiemmo, said.
Knowing Joey loves the cartoon “Paw Patrol,” Santiemmo helped organize a parade of police cars and fire trucks in front of his home in Bloomingdale Wednesday. Joey's family received a giant check representing the more than $5,000 raised through sales of #JoeyStrong T-shirts. His classmates and teachers at the early childhood center in Carol Stream School District 93 are wearing the T-shirts weekly in his honor.
“I'm a mom of three. In my mind, I thought there's nothing more this family needs than prayers and support and love,” Santiemmo said.
Joey has been living with malignant ectomesenchymoma, a soft-tissue cancer, and the sometimes brutal side effects of chemotherapy. After months of treatment, his scans came back clear in April 2022. Joey's hair grew back. Pictures of Joey taken during a cancer-free summer showed a cheerful little boy who took swimming lessons and played with dinosaurs. He was able to start preschool this past November.
“He loved coming here,” Santiemmo said.
Joey made friends. He got used to his preschool routine. But he had to give up all those things in January.
His doctors removed a tumor near Joey's lung, surgically inserted a chemo port into his chest and began a new treatment regimen.
“He was up and walking at 6 a.m. the next day,” his mother, Toni, wrote on Facebook after the surgery. “I could barely keep him still. He wanted to talk to all the children in the hospital rooms, nurses, doctors ... anyone that would make eye contact. The doctors and nurses are always shocked at how fast he bounces back, he's so strong, so tough. He's my baby.”
His family shares his story to advocate for advancements in childhood cancer treatment. There are limited treatment options for children with rare cancers like Joey's, his father, Carmine Burdi, said.
“Chemotherapy is the only option currently available,” he said. “With this treatment, Joey will need a miracle to survive. More needs to be done to help Joey and all patients battling this devastating disease. We live in a revolutionary time for medicine. We need to rewrite the book on how to treat cancer and tackle this with tenacity and critical thinking.”
Joey has endured 47 weeks of treatment so far. The chemotherapy drugs that Joey is receiving were developed in the 1950s and 1960s, his father said.
“That does not seem good enough,” Burdi said. “With all of the advancements in modern medicine, we hope that our miracle will come true. We hope that science and medicine will come together and explore new ways to cure and finally defeat cancer.”
Through it all, Joey's parents have made one request.
“The family is only asking for prayers at this time,” Santiemmo said. “They're not really seeking much more. But Joey's 3 and going through a lot.”
She has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes. Preschool families and staff members bought the #JoeyStrong T-shirts. Vendor CP Creative produced the shirts and arranged to donate all proceeds to Joey's family. The Bloomingdale Bears youth athletic organization — Joey's father coaches the football team, brother Carmine plays football and sister Giulia is a cheerleader — also sold its own version of the shirt. Collectively, 524 shirts were sold in just a few weeks, raising $5,240 for the Burdis.
Due to demand, the school reopened the fundraiser. People can buy shirts in adult and youth sizes until an online store closes March 24.
“This is just kind of the start of, I hope, a long journey of support as he fights this battle,” Santiemmo said, “and we're very hopeful that the outcome is going to be positive for him.”
Joey's father expressed gratitude to everyone involved — his school, the principal, the Bloomingdale Bears, Bloomingdale police, firefighters and St. Walters School in Roselle — for their support of Joey and his older siblings.
He also thanked doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Joey has received the “very best care” at St. Alexius Hospital, where he had his initial surgery in 2021, and at Lurie Children's Hospital, his dad said.
His parents responded to the show of generosity Wednesday by asking people to consider supporting the Bear Necessities Pediatric Foundation and Cal's Angels, two organizations that help child cancer patients.
Bloomingdale families joined in the parade of police and fire vehicles, painting car windows with #JoeyStrong and honking horns. Joey waved back and smiled in his mother's arms. He hasn't been back to school since doctors discovered the tumor in his chest, Santiemmo said.
“But he's still our student.”