Northport, Alabama Firefighters Raise $19,000 for Child Battling Cancer

Firefighters in Northport raised almost $20,000 to help one of their own whose 6-year-old son is fighting cancer, a senior official said Wednesday.

Richard Brown, a Battalion Chief with Northport Fire Rescue, said a two-month raffle ticket fundraiser to help a fellow firefighter cover his young son's medical bills raised a total of $19,276.

Last Saturday, the fundraiser's organizers drew three winners for the raffle and presented the money to Thomas Waters, a Northport firefighter whose son Remington was diagnosed with a rare cancer called neuroblastoma earlier this year.

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"The response was overwhelming," Brown said.  "Within five minutes of announcing the raffle, we had people coming to us asking how they could help."

Brown said this was a community-wide effort, and he's proud of the work his entire team put in. Northport Mayor Bobby Herndon and City Council President Jeff Hogg also pulled in big ticket sales, Brown said, selling at least 100 each.

The University of Alabama cut a $1,000 check for the event as well.

The $10 raffle tickets were sold at all Northport Fire Rescue stations, as well as at Mayor Herndon's surveying office and Ingram Farms. The first prize winner received a $1,000 gift card, second place won a YETI cooler, and third place won a Stihl-brand chainsaw.

"I have no negatives whatsoever with how the event went," Brown said. "People were so generous, they would be coming and donating money without even buying tickets. At one point, we ran out of tickets because people were buying them 10 at a time."

"We just hope the community continues to pray for Remington, we're so appreciative of what they've done so far," Brown said.

Brown said the last he heard was that things are looking optimistic with Remington, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments.