May 15--HERSHEY -- Firefighters from more than a dozen Lebanon County fire departments escorted a gravely ill brother fireman home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
When Robert Sweigart was released from the Hershey Medical Center, he was greeted by his fellow Myerstown firefighters. But they weren't the only ones waiting for him.
A short distance away, more than 20 pieces of apparatus from 15 fire companies from Lebanon County, one from a suburban Harrisburg station and one from Berks County, along with the Lebanon County HazMat team were waiting for him in the parking lot of Karns Quality Foods grocery store. Carried home by the Myerstown ambulance, the vehicle made a stop at the grocery store so the 23-year-old Sweigart could see the outpouring of support from his fellow firefighters.
On mobile? Click here to view photo gallery Sweigart, a firefighter with Myerstown's Goodwill Fire Co., was being treated at the medical center for his second bout of leukemia and was going home because his treatments weren't stemming the disease.
"He said he didn't want to die in the hospital," said his mother, Karen Sweigart of Manheim. Sweigart decided he wanted to go home, she said.
Members of the convoy met in the Lebanon Valley Mall parking lot and headed out to the Hershey Medical Center. After the stop at the Karns store, they made their way along Route 322 to Sweigart's boyhood home in Hinkletown just outside of Ephrata, Lancaster County, where he lives with his father, Reese Sweigart, and his grandparents, Warren and Linda Sweigart.
It's an emotional day for the Lebanon County firefighting community.
Nick Serikstad of Lebanon's Chemical Fire Co. came up with the idea of the escort Tuesday afternoon. Serikstad posted a message on the Lebanon County Fire Wire and the Lebanon County Weather Facebook pages, and word of the convoy quickly spread. He said he was on the phone until midnight making arrangements for the escort.
"We didn't expect such a huge turnout," he said.
Serikstad said he got to know Sweigart when they went to Joplin, Mo., for a week to help residents there clean up after a tornado damaged that town on May 22, 2011.
"When we were trying to get a group together for Joplin, he was all for it," Serikstad said. "He's all about giving back to the community, and it's time for us to give back to him. He would give his shirt off his back."
Shawn Moore, who has known Sweigart for several years, runs with the Paxtonia Fire Co. outside of Harrisburg while attending fire school at HACC. Moore, who grew up in Newmanstown, drove a fire truck from Paxtonia to take part in the convoy.
"Robert's a good guy. He did everything for people even when times were tough for him," Moore said as he stood in the Lebanon Valley Mall parking lot before heading off to Hershey Medical Center.
Goodwill Fire Co. Deputy Chief Briceon Kale said Sweigart started out as a junior firefighter at the age of 14. He also served as a firefighter for Kutztown, Schaefferstown and Frystown fire companies, Kale said.
Sweigart's brother, Randall, is a captain at Goodwill.
"Anything outdoors Robert loved, and he loved working on his truck," Kale said. "The amount of support he received, I'm overwhelmed."
The Ephrata Fire Co. set up its ladder truck and flew the American flag over Main Street as the convoy of trucks passed by.
As the Myerstown ambulance pulled up to Sweigart's childhood home, he was greeted by a sign reading "Welcome home Bob" on the porch.
Sweigart waved as he was carried in a gurney into his home.
Firefighters lined up outside to wait their turn to say goodbye to Sweigart. The firemen left the home solemnly, some wiping away tears.
Sweigart's father said his son was first diagnosed with leukemia just before Thanksgiving in November 2012.
"It all started with a wisdom tooth being pulled, and it didn't heal," Sweigart's father said.
Sweigart was hospitalized and went through three rounds of chemotherapy, his father said.
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In May last year, his doctors told him that he had beaten leukemia.
"It was all over at that point, we thought," his father said.
But on Sept. 30 last year, the day before his birthday, Sweigart relapsed. He spent the night before his birthday in the emergency room at Hershey Medical Center.
He went back through chemotherapy in October, and the family was able to take him home for Christmas.
In January, doctors thought Sweigart was doing well, and he came home later that month.
But a week after arriving home, Sweigart fell ill again.
He was not eating, his father said. Sweigart was readmitted to Hershey Medical Center on Feb. 12.
Sweigart was thankful for the show of support Wednesday, his father said.
"It's unreal when I look around here," his father said standing outside their home with the convoy parked along the road nearby.
"I could see a tear in his eye when I walked in," Sweigart's mother said after seeing him at home.
Taking part in the convoy were Palmyra Citizens, Campbelltown, Lawn, Neversink, Lebanon's Chemical, Myerstown's Goodwill, Keystone Hook and Ladder, Kutztown, Newmanstown, Schaefferstown, Cornwall, Annville-Cleona Fire District fire companies; Lawn EMS; and Lebanon County HazMat Team; Frystown Fire Co. in Berks County and Paxtonia in Dauphin County. State police, local police departments and fire police assisted with traffic control.
See also:
January: Fundraiser set for Robert Sweigart
Photos: January fundraiser for Robert Sweigart
Check out the LDNews digital luminaria project in honor of Relay for Life
Breast cancer survivor is Friday's Lebanon Relay honorary chair
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