A cancer diagnosis is always a hard thing to deal with for the patient, as well as for their family and friends. Cody Lewis, a senior at Two Rivers High School, is currently in the midst of a battle with undifferentiated sarcoma, a considerably rare form of cancer. His battle actually began at a basketball scrimmage in late November, when he fell on his hip and continued having pain long after it should have healed. After speaking with the trainer at the high school, Cody went to see a doctor, who performed a pair of MRIs, a PET scan, and a biopsy on his hip, and determined he had cancer.
While this diagnosis has hit the family hard, a very close friend of the family, Laurie Reif, was also heavily affected. She said that she felt so helpless and wanted to do something to help the family and take the financial burden off of them. So, she created TEAM CODY. She wanted the family to “focus on Cody, focus on family, focus on just getting through this, and looking forward to the future.” Rief is more than just a family friend. She said she has been friends with Cody’s mother Billie for around 30 years, and they refer to each other as “the soulmate of best friends”. Reif has nothing but high praise for Cody. “He is always giving of himself,” she explained. She said he is the kind of young man that would go above and beyond to help those around him.
Despite being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Cody is not giving up. In fact, he spoke with Reif last week about his future. Reif said he told her that he wants to become a school counselor in the future. She told Cody that he was going to take this battle and “do something amazing with it.”
There have been several fundraisers to help the family, including one at Strand Adventures in Manitowoc. Reif was not able to attend the event, but she told SeehaferNews.com that the attendees were “sending pictures to the family, and sending messages to Cody about ‘Look who showed up!’ and ‘We’re having so much fun!’…I know that the family is so appreciative of every little message of support, the prayers, and the pictures they’ve been receiving.”
If you wish to help support the Lewis family, there are many different ways you can do so. The next major fundraising event will be on Friday, February 21st when TEAM CODY will join forces with the Two Rivers Boys Basketball team on their Senior Night celebration. There will be cookies for sale from Hartman’s Bakery, bucket raffles, and a raffle for a Replica Green Bay Packers helmet, signed by Aaron Rodgers. TEAM CODY is also in contact with the owners of Horsey Habit, Michelle and Dave Endries who will also be doing something at the event. The details on that have not been ironed out yet, but they have agreed to match any donations dollar for dollar, up to $2,500.
All of this support has really touched Reif. “That’s one thing about our community, I love being from a small town,” Reif said. “It doesn’t matter if you know the family personally, I think everyone pulls together, and you all want to help because, in a small community, you just become family.”
To keep up with everything going on with Cody Lewis, and all ways you can donate, join the TEAM CODY group on Facebook.
