By Hollie Gibbs
In the summer of 2013, as the country watched the all-seeing eyes of Gatsby’s billboard looming overhead, another pair of faceless bespectacled peepers peered at citizens from bumper stickers, shirts, and coffee mugs. The fearless eyes belong to none other than luminary Spencer Gansert.
When we last left our hero, he was embroiled in round five of his perilous chemo fight with his arch-nemesis. The conflict had been raging for months, with numbers going up then back down, only to rise up again. But Spencer had no fear! He had battled this faceless monster before and knew it was no match for him!
Through surgeries and biopsies, the situation at times appeared bleak; the toddler’s battered body surely would be able to endure no more. The evil Leukemia reared its ugly head believing it had Spencer beat. Until… what’s this? Spencer was smiling!? Never before had Leukemia known such insolence! The 24-month-old had cancer on the ropes, and the malevolent villain knew there was no way out.
Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice, everybody’s favorite former Pussyfoot Girl Lacey Gansert and her husband Todd have tirelessly had their son’s back while taking care of his baby brother. It didn’t take long for other local heroes to join in the fight as Spencer’s own cousin Megan raised money though a kickball team and family friend Phoebe Nelson started a Café Press store full of Team Spencer items with proceeds going to our hero himself while another friend, Becky LeBrun, began making Team Spencer lockets.
“It’s way more about supporting the little guy than it is about money,” Lacey explained. “I’m not worrying about the financial part of this because that’s the least important to me right now. Spencer is what’s important and seeing so many people get pumped about buying a shirt or whatever to support him is incredible. He’s got quite a crew behind him. TEAM SPENCER!”
Working together, Team Spencer is certain to vanquish the nefarious disease, striking a blow for kids with Leukemia everywhere.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks as Spencer takes on his sixth (and hopefully final) round of chemotherapy.
Join Team Spencer at https://facebook.com/1TeamSpencer, http://cafepress.com/theteamspencer, or http://beckylebrun.origamiowl.com.
Hollie Gibbs has a BS in journalism from Kent State University and studied photography at School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan. Her articles and photographs have appeared in numerous local and national publications. She can also be found playing guitar with various bands and building life-size monster props.