By William Tauro
Last week at the Montvale Plaza in Stoneham, over five hundred firefighters and their guests attended an event to help one of their own, 47 year old Somerville Firefighter Paul Sullivan with the battle of his own fighting Pancreatic Cancer.
When the 47 year old firefighter was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, his firefighter family gathered the troops and the brotherhood instinctively kicked into action and shifted into high gear and began displaying what the true meaning of “Brotherhood” really stands for.
Volunteers of the Somerville Fire and other departments and their families immediately contacting each other and began the long undertaking of planning and setting up the event and getting it off the ground.
At the standing room only event there were raffles, dining, dancing and most of all there was one of the biggest displays of the brotherhood of firefighters helping each other and coming together when one is in need.
Firefighters from the Pipes and Drum group also put on a musical display as they marched around the banquet hall and played several songs in a circle where all got a standing ovation of whistles and cheers from the crowd.
Paul’s family was in tears at the outpouring of love shown to them that evening.
The Montvale plaza donated the facility to the event for the evening. The brotherhood volunteers frantically set up, decorated the hall, rolling napkins, spreading tablecloths and prepared the feast leaving no detail behind.
Representatives from fire departments from across the Commonwealth and beyond we’re there in support of their brother firefighter.
Proceeds from the event will go to cover Somerville Firefighter Paul Sullivan’s medical and care costs and his family.
Paul Sullivan is also one of the five Somerville Firefighters that were promoted in rank at city hall this past Thursday evening!
Paul got promoted to Fire Lieutenant. He became a firefighter in June 1989. He attended Bunker Hill Community College, where he received and Associates of Science, Fire Science and Safety Technology. In 2008, Paul returned to Bunker Hill where he received an Associates of Science, Medical Imaging. Paul has utilized this last degree performing diagnostic x-ray examinations of inmates in a variety of Massachusetts correctional facilities. Paul has both an EMT license and a Radiologic Technologist license. In 1993, Paul was named the Somerville Firefighter of the Year, in recognition of his heroic rescue efforts during a fire on Russell St. He is also a member of the Greater Boston Firefighters Pipes and Drums as a Bagpiper.
