A La
Grange family will donate the funds raised in a
community event to Adventist St. Thomas Hospice in honor of their late son,
3-year-old Tyler Duelm, who died of brain cancer in 2007.
Tyler’s playgroup friends commissioned an artist, La Grange resident Donna Skonning, to decorate an Adirondack chair as part of the La Grange Business
Association’s “Lounging in La Grange” display. It
will be auctioned off with the other chairs on Sept. 5.
The chair is decorated with a jungle theme in honor
of Tyler, who pretended be a lion and roared at his doctors and nurses during
his eight-month battle with cancer. It is displayed in front of the La Grange
Public Library, home to the Tyler Duelm Activity Room.
Proceeds will benefit the children’s programs at Adventist
St. Thomas Hospice, 8230 S. Madison, Burr Ridge, a service of Adventist Hinsdale
Hospital. Certified by
Medicare and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations, Adventist St. Thomas Hospice serves patients and families in
DuPage, eastern Kane, northern Will and western Cook counties. Tyler’s siblings, 10-year-old Jessica and 8-year-old
Jonathan, attended the hospice’s Tommy’s Kids Summer Camp in July. The annual
children’s bereavement day camp is the only one of its kind in DuPage County.
Because Tommy’s Kids Support Group was such a wonderful
program for our children, we wanted to do something in Tyler’s
honor to would help other children dealing with loss,” said Laura Duelm, Tyler’s mother.
Adventist St. Thomas Hospice offers support
throughout the year for grieving children through a program called Tommy’s Kids
Support Group. Tommy’s Kids Summer Camp is a weeklong event that allows the
hospice to serve an even larger population of kids.
“We’re thankful to the Duelm family for supporting
the Tommy’s Kids program,” said Rosemarie Cohen, hospice bereavement
coordinator.