THUNDER BAY - In a lifetime that has mostly been dictated by pain, surgeries, and hardship, three-year-old Darius Fitzgerald has a constant smile on his face.
Although hearing his story is one of unspeakable grief for him and his family, seeing Darius’ smile flips the tragedy of the situation upside down, and brings an indescribable kind of joy to those around him.
So it made perfect sense that on Saturday, his smile fuelled a day of work for volunteers with the appropriately named Million Dollar Smiles charity, who helped build a playground in Darius’ backyard.
The Toronto-based charity typically builds playgrounds for families in the Greater Toronto Area, but didn’t seem to mind the travel time, because the reward of happiness for Darius can seemingly outweigh anything.
Of the world’s 7.53 billion people, Darius Fitzgerald is like no other.
In a strictly scientific sense, it is believed that he’s the only person in the world that suffers from down syndrome, along with a rare disease called NF2.
NF2, short for neurofibromatosis Type 2, is a hereditary condition where typically one develops a series of benign tumours on nerves carrying sound and balance information to the brain. Oftentimes, NF2 results in partial or complete hearing loss, vision impairment and balance issues.
“NF2 basically means your body does not create a protein to stop tumours from growing,” his father, Andre Fitzgerald said.
“His future is basically chemotherapy and surgeries,” said his mother Danielle Fitzgerald.
In a miraculous three years, Darius’ parents have gone through every possible emotion a parent can experience.
Darius has had multiple heart and spinal surgeries, with doctors preparing the couple for the worst each time.
Yet each time, Darius prevails.
“We’re just focusing right now on quality of life, because unfortunately, his life expectancy is not too high. We’re just trying to make each day count,” Danielle said.
His story has captured the attention of many in the medical community, in the Archibald Street neighbourhood where the Fitzgerald residence is located, and the Thunder Bay community, where broker Vince Mirabelli first heard of Darius’ story.
“I learnt his story through another family, and once I read about it, I knew we had to do something special for him,” said Mirabelli who sponsored the build.
Seven years prior, Mirabelli met Anna Lopes at an event in Toronto. Lopes is the founder of Million Dollar Smiles, and started the charity 14 years ago with the goal of bringing smiles to children facing life-threatening illnesses.
While their team of volunteers have built more than 500 playgrounds in the GTA, Saturday marked their first trip outside of Toronto to build a playground for Darius.
They also had a team in Shuniah building a playground for Lillian, a 10-year old girl who is diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia.
Darius recently came back from spine surgery in London, and there was a question mark surrounding whether he’d even be in town to see volunteers build his new playground.
Sure enough, Darius was at home, sitting in his new slide, and even lending a helping hand after grabbing of one of the wrenches.
His new playground features two slides, three swings, and even a toy kitchen.
His parents say it will make each day happier for him.
“It’s all about Darius,” Danielle said. “He wakes up every morning smiling, he goes to sleep smiling. It baffles even the specialists. He’s supposed to be in tremendous pain and he’s got a love of life. He feels all the support.”
Darius’ full story is available at pencilsandpopcans.com.