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Playing Emily’s song
AUGUST 23, 2013
Vol. 5 No. 38
Bagpipes help Westmont teen battling cancer By Vikaas Shanker For the Bugle
VIKAAS SHANKER/BUGLE CONTRIBUTOR
Bagpipe band organizer Joe Coakley gives Emily Wheeler Chicago Blackhawks memorabilia after the parade Saturday afternoon at her Westmont home. Emily’s father, Steve Wheeler, said Emily is a big Blackhawks and Chicago Cubs fan.
Emily Wheeler thought a school band was practicing when she heard the drones of bagpipes down the street from her Westmont home Saturday afternoon. But when her mother took her outside, she saw a fire truck driver wave to her as he led a group of bagpipers, drummers and dancers to her house. Wheeler beamed in surprise. “Oh, my gosh! What is happening,” Emily said when the band of about 40 musicians turned to face her. Wheeler has been battling Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, a rare form of brain cancer, for the past two years. So to lift her spirits, members of the Midwest Pipe Band Association, Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers of Chicagoland and Westmont community volunteered their time to serenade the high school freshman. “I thought it was for another person,” she said. When her mother took her outside, Wheeler was greeted with a sign that said, “The Emily Wheeler Pipes & Drums.” See BAGPIPES, page 23