No Brother Battles Alone: Firefighters Ball to benefit captain’s young son

(ROCKWALL, TX – August 28, 2018) An evening of brotherhood, dinner, dancing, and brotherhood awaits North Texas firefighters and their families during the 5th Annual Firefighters Ball on Saturday, September 22 at the Hilton Dallas/Rockwall Lakefront.

Hosted by local nonprofit The Colbert Project, the black tie event will bring together local fire communities for cocktails, live and silent auctions, casino games, a photo booth, and more.

The event benefits The Colbert Project’s No Brother Battles Alone Fund, which provides support to fellow firefighters and their families during times of financial strife brought on by illness, injury or other circumstances.

This year’s Firefighters Ball was recently announced in this moving statement by Emily Colbert of The Colbert Project:

Each year that I have found myself preparing to write the Firefighters Ball beneficiary announcement, I have found it harder and harder to do so. There are many aspects that make an announcement such as this difficult, largely in part, each and every family that we have been blessed to cross paths with is facing a traumatic/life-changing event. With that being said, I absolutely, positively, wish I was not meeting each of these families under these circumstances. But over the years I have learned that we, as a whole, are able to directly show God’s love to each of these families by continuing to show our support and the true definition of brotherhood when it is needed the most. The irony for me comes with making that call to inform a family they have been selected as a primary beneficiary for the year’s event. Calls I wish were never needed. However, we all know that this is not a perfect world and sometimes we too have found ourselves facing unexpected hardships. What we do…Is never an attempt to take away from or fix the multitude of emotions and feelings any of the families we have met over the years have and are facing…But without question, I know in my heart…every last guest who has been in the house over the last 5 years has made it possible, at the very least, to lighten the financial load, worry and burdens for all the families who have been selected to date. We may not be able to “fix” it but we sure as heck have shown we know how to come together for one epic night of fundraising and fun to help raise funds for others.

As many of you know, a fellow brother and firefighter needs our help! Some of you may already know the McDade family story…but for those of you who do not…Capt. Jim McDade is a 13-year veteran with Dallas Fire & Rescue and is currently the Dallas Firefighters Association Local 58 President. I feel that Jim’s son, Coen, explains their journey thus far best:

“Hi, my name is Coen McDade and I am 5 years old. I love life and I am fighting this thing called Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. I was diagnosed on June 14, 2018 after discovering a large bump on my hand between my thumb and pointer finger (I named him Herman, the Villain). The doctors took it out of my hand and told my mommy and dad that it was a malignant cancerous tumor. After getting a bunch of testing done, the doctors told us that the cancer has moved into my bone marrow. Within days, I had to have a surgery to put in a port so the doctors could give me medicine to get rid of the nasty germs that Herman left behind in my body. So it looks like I will be getting chemotherapy for the next 54 weeks.

In case you were wondering…some of my favorite things are: swimming, my brother Everett, my mom and dad, video games, my dog Bodhi, my dog Skippy, Minecraft, my cats Prince Charlie and Zuko, Fortnight, and green is my favorite color. I love going to the Dallas World Aquarium and the Arboretum. I play soccer and T-Ball and I look forward to starting Kindergarten in the future.”

As I mentioned, we may not be able to “fix” the unimaginable…but we certainly can help lighten the financial load this family will be facing over the next 54 weeks. To the sponsors and individuals who have already purchased tickets or tables, we humbly thank you! To those who haven’t, please consider attending the Annual Firefighters Ball on September 22, 2018 (A-Shift) at the Hilton Dallas/Rockwall Lakefront Hotel.

For additional event information, hotel accommodations, tickets and sponsorship opportunities please visit www.muradauctions.net/firefightersball.

We hope to see you there!

Please keep in mind that there are a limited number of tickets available. Don’t wait to get your tickets. I fully anticipate tickets selling out and once they are gone…they are gone.

Respectfully and Humbly,

Emily Colbert, The Colbert Project

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