Volunteers build wheelchair ramp for teenager in Selkirk battling cancer

SELKIRK – Volunteers got together to build a ramp outside a home in Selkirk for a 14-year-old boy battling cancer who is now using a wheelchair.

"That was amazing," said the boy’s mother, Stephanie Cardinale. "I still can’t wrap my head around that. That all these people that did not know me or my family came together to build this ramp so that we could be home together."

Brian Brosen only knew Stephanie through her Facebook posts about her son’s fight with leukemia, but he felt compelled to send a message of support one evening when she seemed to be feeling down and isolated.

They kept in touch, and one day she asked if he knew anything about ramps.

Brian put out the call, and a lot of people answered.

The list of volunteers and businesses that contributed is a long one.

A team from Anastasi Contractors took on the project.

"I don’t really look at it as work, I look at it as we had to get this boy home, because again, I couldn’t imagine going through that," said Michelle Kavanaugh-Anastasi, whose husband is the owner of Anastasi General Contracting. Her business, Organize Senior Moves, donated furniture to the family.

Watching all the good people wanting to do whatever they could brought joy.

"It’s a hard feeling to describe, but it was everybody coming together and for an absolute complete stranger," said Brosen, whose company is the Capital Team at eXp Realty. "It was somewhat emotional for me, just because I knew what this meant."

Stephanie says being in his own place has helped son Mathias improve.

"We’re so happy we’re home," she said. "We’re so appreciative. We’re so grateful."

It was a complicated project that happened because of a simple reason: kindness.