WILLIAMSBURG TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Two paramedics from the Williamsburg Township Fire Department have built a strong friendship over the past few years.
“She’s been kind of like a mentor for me, especially when I was going through like, school and stuff," Danielle Vonder Meulen said.
“I love her!" Joan Foster said.
The two have worked side by side in an ambulance and at certain emergency scenes. Vonder Meulen is a paramedic and firefighter with the Stonelick Township and Williamsburg Township Fire Departments. Foster also serves as a local emergency room nurse.
“I just love getting to help people and help my community," Vonder Meulen said.
Watch to see how fellow paramedics are helping out a friend in need in a battle with blood cancer:
Last year, Vonder Meulen said some symptoms started to flare up, so she met with an emergency room doctor.
“I’ve always been a pretty bad migraine sufferer, but I started to get some pretty bad migraines," Vonder Meulen said.
She was then diagnosed with a type of hypertension, then an autoimmune disease. Fast forward to this summer, when she received the most intense news of all.
“Just this past August is when I was diagnosed with a condition that is called MDS, which is myelodysplastic syndrome; it’s a form of blood cancer," Vonder Meulen said.
As Vonder Meulen and her husband Jacob, a firefighter in Deerfield Township, push through treatments and appointments, they've had their firefighter family to back them.
“It’s a long, scary process to go through," Vonder Meulen said.
Foster has stepped up to support her friend, along with other friends and colleagues across departments.
“Lots of text messages making sure she’s ok, when we’re here, making sure that she doesn’t overwork herself," Foster said.
Foster has also helped organize fundraisers so that friends, family and the public can help financially.
“We are having a quarter auction here at the firehouse on Oct. 14 to help raise some funds for her. We've got some great prizes," Foster said.
There is also an event alongside SITREP, a nonprofit that supports veterans and first responders. That is scheduled for November at Dead Low Brewing, according to Foster.
“She is so strong," Foster said.
With rounds of chemotherapy and months of treatment and recovery on the horizon, the Vonder Meulens expressed just how grateful they are to have a support system like their fellow first responders.
“Having Joan and everybody else in the fire service that's been reaching out and being helpful, that has been huge; like, you could not ask for more," Jacob Vonder Meulen said.
“You get really close with the people that you work with when you work in this kind of field. You’re together 24 hours straight; you are together several times a week, you really do become like family," Danielle Vonder Meulen said.
