Twelve-year old Scout Frank C. has suffered from desmoid tumors his entire life. The tumors have kept him in near constant pain for years, and now, the terminally ill young man has been put on hospice care. Even so, Frank hasn’t let his disease stop him from experiencing life.
ABC News shared the inspirational story of how Frank’s Scout leader, Ron Beaulieu, knowing that it would be nearly impossible for Frank to join his fellow Scouts on a troop ski trip, reached out to a non-profit group, Adaptive Adventures, that makes sports like skiing accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Adaptive Adventures made it possible for Frank to use a bi-ski, which is a device that allowed him to be seated over a pair of skis. He could use his body to steer the bi-ski while Linda Tomsevics, director of Adaptive Adventures and an avid skier, stayed connected to the bi-ski to help ensure Frank’s safety.
Frank’s family and his fellow Boy Scouts all made the trip to be there to ski alongside Frank.
“We expected one, maybe two or three runs if it went really well,” said Frank’s mom, Kathrine. “He went down around a dozen times, and he had the biggest smile the entire time.”
Tomsevics described some of the moments while she and Frank rode the ski lift that day.
“More than once he just hung his head over and looked at me right in the eyes and said, ‘I really appreciate what you’ve done for me,’” she recalled. “I just thought, ‘The grace of this child,’ … knowing what he’s going through.”
“He’d hang his head back and he’d close his eyes and I’d say, ‘Frank, are you OK?’ and he’d say, ‘This is perfect. It feels great to just close my eyes and feel the wind on my face,’” she added.
“A lot of his smiles recently have been for others, so that we’re not sad, but yesterday was just all for him,” said Kathrine, Frank’s mother. “I saw true, happy smiles.”
“He loved that his fellow scouts and family were right there next to him going down,” she added. “He was just so happy for himself.”
You can see more of Frank’s story from Good Morning America and Yahoo! News.
