Eminem Visit One Thing; Community Support for Dying Teen 'The' Thing

Students and staff at Rochester Hight School will wear #GarmoStrong T-shirts on Friday, Gage Garmo’s 18th birthday, to show their affection for the teen, who died of bone cancer Monday. (Photos via Twitter)

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To measure the impact Rochester High School senior Gage Garmo had on members of his family, his classmates, friends and strangers alike in his community, 32,235 is a good number.

$32,235 is the amount of money raised through crowdfunding on GoFundMe – by 11 a.m. Wednesday, anyway – to help offset the medical bills incurred by the family of the Rochester HIlls 17-year-old, who died Monday after a stoic, four-year battle with osteosarcomae, an aggressive bone cancer most often found in teens.

Another measure was a visit a day before Garmo died from hip-hop artist Eminem, known for caustic, rapid-fire lyrics and aggressive beats, but admittedly moved to tears when he met the teen at his Rochester Hills home Sunday.

That was a big thing to be sure, a surprise Garmo’s friends thought might brighten his final days, quickly organized after they learned last week the youth whose valiant battle against cancer had swelled their hearts with admiration since 2010 was dying.

Garmo’s parents told the wish director for The Rainbow Connection, which facilitated the visit, that it had returned a trademark smile – something they hadn’t seen recently as the disease ravaged their son’s body – to his face.

As big as that visit was – and it was the engine that moved the story around social media circles – it wasn’t the big thing.

The big thing, Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said, is how the community’s true character shines “in these unscripted situations.”

Speaking Monday at a community candlelight vigil, Barnett said he didn’t know Garmo, but had been impressed by by the way his friends swaddled him in love, The Oakland Press reports.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in our community before,” Barnett said. “So many things happened, basically organized by his friends. He had such a major impact on so many people, it really reverberated.”

Related:

• Rapper Eminem Goes Soft for Dying Teen
• Teen Who Met Eminem As Dying Wish Loses Cancer Battle

About 20 of the teens who were at the vigil headed to Rochester Hills City Hall, where Barnett planned to speak about Garmo at a City Council meeting. Moments before his remarks, the students burst into tears, Barnett told the Detroit Free Press. They had just learned their friend had died.

The meeting was put on hold. Teens and council members embraced, supporting each other through what Barnett described as a “raw moment” of grief.

“I’ve been part of local government for a while, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” he said.

“Yellow Out” at Rochester High School

Since Garmo’s death Monday, the #GarmoStrong team hasn’t skipped a beat.

Friday would have been Garmo’s 18th birthday, and the students are proceeding as if he is physically here to see it.

They’re selling T-shirts in a continued effort to help offset his family’s medical expenses, and students and staff plan to wear them Friday to make Rochester High School a sea of yellow, his favorite color. One student called it a ”Yellow Out” in his tweet.

The same #GarmoStrong hashtag that helped galvanize the community rally around Garmo is printed on the T-shirts, and forms a crown over No. 32, his jersey number for the Rochester High School Falcons football team that Garmo loved so much that he stayed on as team manager after a leg amputation sidelined him.

If efforts like that don’t sell the community of 71,000 as one of the best places in America to live– Money magazine ranked Rochester Hills No. 9 on its 2014 list – Barnett isn’t sure what it takes.

“You can talk about numerical categories,” he told the Free Press. “But something like community spirit is an intangible, and it was so evident this week in the support of the Garmo family. I’m just proud to be associated with it.”

Visitation, Funeral Mass and Burial

Visitation is scheduled for 2-9 p.m. today (Wednesday) with a 7 p.m. scripture service at E.J. Madziuk & Son Funeral Directors, 3801 Eighteen Mile Road in Sterling Heights

A mass of Christian burial is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at Holy Martyrs Chaldean Catholic Church, 43700 Merrill Road, Sterling Heights. Burial will be at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy.

He is survived by his father and mother, Ghais Garmo and Tina Garmo, and a sister, Graci. Read the full obituary here.

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