Longtime Tarrytown volunteer firefighter Bill Duggan has always dreamed of attending a Super Bowl.
Following a diagnosis this fall of stage 4 brain cancer, his colleagues, friends and family are trying to make sure it happens.
Lohud.com reports on a story that is both touching and heartbreaking for the 59-year-old Duggan, whose first grandchild was born only a few months before a splitting headache landed the veteran firefighter in the hospital and eventually led to his diagnosis.
Subsequent surgery removed much of the tumor but not all of it, and doctors have given Duggan only two to three years to live.
"But I'm going for five or six," Duggan told Lohud.com as he gazed lovingly at his grandson. "I won't give up. I got that little guy over there. I can't give up. He's my buddy."
During a lunch with Mike Chillemi -- the son of a lifelong friend -- Duggan mentioned that attending a Super Bowl was at the top of his bucket list. Chillemi then set about starting a GoFundMe page entitled "Bill's Bucket List" to raise the money for the expensive Super Bowl tickets and hotel accommodations.
"Bill is one of the strongest, kindest, and most genuine people you will ever meet," reads the fund page. "It has been a lifelong dream of his to go to a super bowl and we are asking for your help to make that dream a reality."
As of Friday morning, the fund has raised over $8,200 toward its $20,000 goal.
"The fire service, when things are at their worst, we're at our best," said Patrick Derivan, Tarrytown's assistant fire chief. "We'll do whatever we can to help Bill."
