Breakfast Eases A Burden Overflow Crowd Helps Family Of Cancer-Stricken Child

At 3-1/2, Joshua Swanlund may spend as much time undergoing treatment for cancer as he’s been alive.

The Rathdrum boy has leukemia. But he also has the support of more than 600 people who feasted for his benefit at the Hauser Lake Fire Department on Sunday. The fundraiser, the 13th annual Shalena’s Breakfast with Santa, earned $3,200 for Joshua’s family.

“I can’t believe how packed it is,” said Penny Swanlund, Joshua’s mother.

Neither could the organizer of the event, Fire Department Capt. Gary Mobbs.

“We expanded, but it still wasn’t enough,” he said, referring to a recent addition to the fire station. The addition, which is large enough to hold three fire trucks, housed long rows of tables full of people Sunday morning.

“We’ve got a big enough station to hold our trucks but not the breakfast,” he laughed.

Joshua was diagnosed with leukemia in September after his parents had him checked out for what they thought was the flu. Their little boy has racked up at least $53,000 in medical bills since then, said his father, Dave Swanlund.

“We have insurance, but we still have to pay the premium and the deductible and the co-pays,” Penny Swanlund said.

And all the other expenses can have a tremendous financial toll on the family, Mobbs said.

He should know. The breakfast is named after his daughter, Shalena, who died of cancer when she was 3.

But not all the stories of the people who have been helped by the Hauser Lake Fire Department end like Shalena’s. Families of four children who have benefitted from previous years’ breakfasts visited on Sunday. Only one of the four lost their child.

Denny Kebert was 8 when he died of a brain tumor. That was just a few months after the 1988 Shalena’s Breakfast helped his family.

“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know where I’d be,” said Kimberly Miller, Denny’s mother. “It was the greatest gift of Christmas because … you see the community come together.”

From 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the department served pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, hot chocolate, coffee, juice and their locally renowned sausage patties. The spices in the sausage come from Germany, but the former volunteer firefighter who supplies them won’t reveal his recipe.

After 13 years, the Hauser Lake Fire Department’s annual breakfast is as much a part of Christmas as stockings and decorated trees.

“It’s not Christmas until I feel sausage grease splattering my forearms,” said Reinhold Jung, a volunteer firefighter.

It takes three months of preparation, food donations from local grocery stores and other contributions from local businesses, Mobbs said.

But the end result is touching - if a little overwhelming, said Mobbs, who still gets choked up sometimes when he talks about Shalena.

“It’s just amazing how many good people there are,” said Dave Swanlund, Joshua’s father.

And if any more good Samaritans are looking for ways to help, they should keep in mind all the other children with cancer at Deaconess Hospital, where Joshua is being treated, Swanlund said.

He also had one specific request for his own son: “Pray.”

HOW TO HELP To help the Hauser Lake Fire Department raise money for Joshua Swanlund’s family, send donations to the Hauser Lake Fire Department, care of Gary Mobbs, W. 6345 Hauser Lake Road, Post Falls, ID 83854.