SPARTA, Mich.-- One man's family is reaching out this holiday season, and hoping others will help bring some cheer to a cancer survivor.
The man’s sister knows how much Christmas means to him, and decided to reach out on social media to give him the best present she could think of to bring him Christmas cheer.
“This past May he was diagnosed with two more brain tumors that were removed in June to which point he almost died,” said his mother, Michelle McDavid, who takes care of her son fulltime.
Christmas is all about putting up the Christmas tree, hanging the stockings, and giving presents. For, Chris Gerulis it’s all about the Christmas cards. So his sister, Laura McDavid, posted a status online telling people about Chris’s hardships, and to send him a Christmas card. It's already been shared over 2000 times, and his family is hoping this will be his best Christmas yet. Chris is already seeing the season’s greetings roll in.
The tree is up, lights and ornaments strung, and stockings hung. It’s Christmas time at the McDavid's, but Chris doesn't want any presents, just an old-fashioned Christmas card from people around the world. After a post his sister wrote online, the cards are slowly coming in, and he tapes them up the door in his room. His favorite card is from a marine.
This Christmas is extra special for the McDavid's because their only son is living. Chris has battled illness most his life, starting at just 8-years-old.
“Well the first day he was outside riding his bike just like every other little boy would and he came in for dinner, and he just didn't seem right to me,” said Michelle.
Michelle rushed him to the hospital that same night.
“They diagnosed him with a malignant brain tumor that was the size of an orange,” she said.
The radiation made Chris deaf, and he was unable to walk, or communicate the same. After months and numerous surgeries he survived.
After being in remission for 21 years, in May of this year, he started falling a lot, and his pupils were dilated.
“What scared me is I had only ever seen it once before with Chris,” said Michelle.
She saw the same symptoms when he was 8 years old.
“He was diagnosed with two more brain tumors.”
He had them removed in an 8 hour surgery, but the problems just began.
“After coming out of surgery within the first 24-hours his brain swelled, and he started having seizures two minutes apart for over 6 hours, and he just looked at me just long enough to say mom make this stop,” said Michelle.
Michelle made the toughest decision of her life: to put her son in an induced coma and wait.
“You you never know how hard that is until it's your only son.”
Three months later he was able to come home. After the McDavids almost lost a brother and a son, again, Chris’s sister Laura is making it her goal to give him the Christmas he deserves.
“She said over 700 people have shared this and it has gone viral across the continental United States,” said Michelle.
While Chris is so excited to get cards from anyone and everyone, there is one Christmas miracle he's hoping to receive in the mail: A Merry Christmas from a World Wrestling Pro.
Chris’s family says whether he receives a card from a wrestling pro or not, they already got their Christmas miracle.
“So for him to still be here is a miracle all by itself,” Michelle said.
If you’d like to send a card to Chris you can send it to 992 13 Mile Drive NE, Sparta, Michigan, 49345.
