Ten-year-old Liam Fitzgerald became beloved as the Boston Bruins’ fist bump kid and turned that popular affection into a fundraising bonanza for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).
Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 3, Liam triumphed over the disease after three and a half hard-fought years. While being treated for cancer, Liam, who has Down Syndrome, became hooked on watching the lightning action of hockey, especially the Bruins, his hometown team. In 2013, the third-grader received an invitation to a Bruins game when a Halloween photo of him dressed up as defenseman Adam McQuaid came to the player’s attention. The next season, Liam was invited to sit on the bench during a pre-game warm-up and was recorded joyously and enthusiastically tapping knuckles with the entire Bruins team as they came off the ice. The fist bump kid was born.
This young man’s affinity for the black and gold, though, pales in comparison to his passion for wiping out cancer. In 2015, Liam decided to capitalize on his famous moniker by launching the #BumpOutCancer fundraising campaign for LLS. He raised more than $150,000, earning the LLS Massachusetts chapter’s Man of the Year award for his outstanding efforts. The candidates for this award usually compete in honor of children who are blood cancer survivors, but this spunky cancer survivor loves being part of the action himself.
