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COMMUNITY | City recognizes employee with Patriot Award [10]
VOL. 17, NO. 51
MIRROR
F E D E R A L WAY
DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
OPINION | Editorial: Cheers and jeers of the year [6] Roegner: ‘Tis the season for political reflection [6] BUSINESS | Verizon retailer TCC hosts ribboncutting ceremony with Chamber [14] WANTED | Police seek public’s help to find suspect who robbed 15 restaurants [19]
SPORTS | Decatur has strong FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015 | 75¢ showing at invitational [4]
Student arrested for gun possession
POLICE | Store staff finds child porn on lost phone [21]
LaPorte: Washingtonian of the Year BY CARRIE RODRIGUEZ
BY RAECHEL DAWSON
editor@fedwaymirror.com
rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
side from her husband and four children, Peggy LaPorte was searching for her purpose in life 23 years ago. She gathered a group of friends around her kitchen table to discuss how they could raise funds to serve the homeless and that ended up being the best decision she ever made. “Little did I know, we were starting a nonprofit,” said LaPorte during a recognition ceremony on Wednesday in Olympia, as the Association of Washington Generals recognized her with the 2015 Washingtonian of the Year Award. The award is presented annually to persons who have demonstrated leadership, selflessness, generosity and compassion in their service to others. LaPorte is the founder and president of FUSION (Friends United to Shelter the Indigent, Oppressed and Needy), an organization that temporarily houses [ more LAPORTE, page 2]
Federal Way police arrested a 17-year-old male Federal Way High School student after finding a handgun on Dec. 11. Federal Way Public Schools spokeswoman Ann Cook said at about 1:30 p.m., three students reported to the office that they received a Snapchat video of a person or student possibly displaying a handgun in a bag. Because Snapchat videos and photos erase themselves after approximately 10 seconds, it wasn’t immediately clear who or what the image depicted. Cook said the students didn’t know the person who sent the Snapchat and initial reports were that a stranger was on campus with a weapon. The school immediately went into lockdown and police responded. “During that investigation, I can confirm, yes, they did find a weapon on campus and identified a suspect who was taken into custody without incident,” Cook said, adding that police took the handgun and the lockdown was cleared at 2:10 p.m. Federal Way police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock said the gun they retrieved was reported stolen from a previous car prowl. Some Woodmont K-8, Nautilus K-8, Sacajawea and Totem Middle School buses were de[ more GUN, page 12]
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Peggy LaPorte (second from right holding a plaque) was recognized as the Washingtonian of the Year by the Association of Washington Generals during an event in Olympia on Wednesday. The founder of FUSION, LaPorte is pictured on the front steps of the capitol with volunteers who help make her organization successful. Left to right, Kathy Ward, Shirley Ayers, Kristen Jacka, Judy Free and Ruth Adams. CARRIE RODRIGUEZ, the Mirror
Friend launches fundraiser for boy battling cancer BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
One month into seventh grade, 12-year-old Brendan O’Reilly discovered he had cancer. The Meeker Middle School student went from playing the trombone, swimming and running to surgeries, chemotherapy and getting homework from counselors and Seattle Children’s Hospital staff. “There was a mass in his testes that he never told us about,” said Brendan’s mother, Rachel O’Reilly. “It was just by chance that my husband noticed it. [Brendan’s] 12, he’s very private
now.” His parents took him to Virginia Mason Medical Center on Oct. 15, thinking it would be testicular cancer, but was told to go to Seattle Children’s Hospital and went through a “rash of tests” without a firm diagnosis. “We scheduled surgery with the thought it would be seminoma but it came back to low-risk embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the muscle tissue or soft tissue,” O’Reilly said. “They had determined he was going to need two separate 12 weeks, so 24 weeks, of chemotherapy.” Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is the most
common type of soft tissue sarcoma in children and can begin in many places on the body, including in the head, neck, genitals or urinary organs. The five-year survival rate for Brendan’s disease, which is low-risk, is over 90 percent and most children are expected to be cured, according to the American Cancer Society. “He definitely has to go through everything that a cancer patient has to go through. He lost his hair, he definitely looks like a St. Judes’ child, but they have told us that it is very treatable and he has a low cancer recurrence,” O’Reilly said. “We [ more BATTLING, page 3]
Brendan O’Reilly, 12, is currently going through chemotherapy for low-risk embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. Contributed photo
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