A 9-year-old boy from Lockport is battling leukemia, and has received dozens of Christmas cards from throughout Western New York this holiday season.
"This was just half of what came on Saturday. and there's a lot of them here," 9-year-old Drew Beiter said, laying out more than a dozen Christmas cards, his name is on every one of the envelopes.
"October 2nd we learned that he was diagnosed with leukemia," Drew's dad Kyle said.
"It's cancer," Drew explained. "And it's hard."
So as he was going through his third round of chemotherapy at Roswell Park, Drew's great aunt and a group of retired teachers decided to send him 15 Christmas cards. In no time, word spread and 15 turned into many more.
"And then it went from my class to the whole school, and then everybody must've heard about it. And it came to 152 cards," Drew said.
"Some are coming from as far as Elma, Orchard Park, Cheektowaga. We thought it was going to just be local but it's become very widespread and very cool to see," his dad added.
Monday morning, Drew and his loyal assistant, his 3-year-old sister Emily, opened up a few cards left over from Saturday's mail.
"I'm thinking of you. I want you to know I'll pray for you every day," he read aloud.
"The fact that they're willing to take time out of their day to put a smile on his face, it makes me speechless. I just really don't know. Thanks just doesn't seem like enough," Drew's mom Krista said.
"It helps a lot, just reading everything and what they have to say," the little boy added.
Making Drew's fight a little easier, one card at a time.
If you would like to send Drew a card, mail can be sent to:
Drew Beiter
6963 Lockwood Lane
Lockport, NY 14094
