Members of the Port Authority Police Department and Edison Fire Department faced off in a charity hockey game to benefit one of their own.
Ryan Terebetsky took center stage Friday night at the Protech hockey arena in Somerset as he dropped the puck at the charity game in his honor. The 7-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia in March.
“It’s not anything you ever think you’re going to get or ever want to get,” says Ryan’s mother Lauren Terebetsky.
The young boy has been in and out of the hospital ever since his diagnosis.
“Thirty straight days receiving chemo. He received four blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, numerous medications,” says Ryan’s father Anthony Terebetsky.
All of the money raised will go to the Terebetsky family to help pay for Ryan’s medical bills.
"Everybody that's in our community has given back to us and we just don't know what to say any more than ‘thank you,’" says Anthony.
Anthony is also a firefighter, so the members of the Port Authority and Edison Fire Departments decided to hold the game to help the family out.
“You’ll do what you have to do for family. Anthony is a fellow firefighter and anything that affects him or his family, it affects us all,” says James Walsh with the Edison Firefighter Association.
“I’ve got great guys in the firehouse. I can't thank them enough because they've been doing this since day one,” says Anthony.
Ryan is in remission now, but his parents say he has more than a year of treatments still ahead of him.