Welcome Home

[Guest DADAY]

Jimmy Boy, Jim and Gina will be coming home tomorrow, SAT Jan 22, they have changed plans due to weather.

[afd65 4]

welcome back just in time for some snow. they go from sunny weather to snowy weather

[ja3kfd 34]

Thank You we are soooo excited and happy to have finished up everything out here,Its Bittersweet,we have made some great connections out here and right know the weather is great,But we really do look forward to the homecoming,and to me the SNOW just meens extra money in the paycheck cause I will be going to work later in the day to keep the Roads open in The TOWN OF BEDFORD.

Thank You and WE WILL SEE YOU AT THE HOMECOMING PARADE.

[x635 4,066]

Can't wait to see you guys....the weather will be a typical Northeast welcome....I'm glad you guys are coming home and your white gold will be coming down.......I will be trapped behind the console, but I'm working on getting 2441 a camera helmet to mount to his head so I can watch the whole event live.

If anybody goes, be sure to bring your digital camera and submit photos to EMTBravo if you can!!

[E64PCFD2044 1]

when is this parade?

[ja3kfd 34]

The Parade is tomm. Morning at approx.1000

starting at IBM entrance off Rte 116 in Somers.

[E64PCFD2044 1]

cool thanks

[x635 4,066]

Got the camera helmet, now just gotta affix it to 2441's head (shouldn't be a problem, the valium comes in dart form,lol) and mount the reciever in Lincolndale. J/K...

Have a great trip home JA3KFD and family!!!

[ja3kfd 34]

WE ARE HOME

[ja3kfd 34]

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Beat the snow we had no traffic all the way home,Jimmy was so excited to in New York,he was yelling it all the way home.

I am so proud to be a Member and a resident of Westchester County, It made me tear up and choke up when I came around the corner and saw everyone at IBM, Gina was crying lil Jim was excited it took him a little while to comprehend you all were there to see him come home. The ride home was great and ya know what as we sttod at home and everyone came by him blowing the horn he did not cover his ears !!!!!!! He was smiling and that has not happened in a looong time. It was great to see you all at Jimmy boys Home coming . THANK YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We appreciate everything everyone has done for us.

JIm Gina and the entire Arena family

[FFD260 1]

WELCOME HOME TO THE ARENA FAMILY AND GOD BLESS YOU... =D> =D> =D> =D>

[Guest CBooth]

Welcome Home Jimmy and his Mom! May God Bless Jimmy and the entire Arena family and keep them safe and well.

[E64PCFD2044 1]

Parade greets Somers boy on return from treatment

 

By BRIAN J. HOWARD  

THE JOURNAL NEWS  

(Original publication: January 23, 2005)

SOMERS — A parade of 20 fire engines, pumpers and ladder trucks at the Route 116 entrance to IBM yesterday morning managed to put a smile wider than here to California on the tired face of 5-year-old Jimmy Arena.  

Jimmy and his mother, Gina Arena, had just returned home after spending the past 10 weeks in Loma Linda, Calif. It was there that Jimmy underwent aggressive treatment for a brain tumor doctors discovered a year ago to the day.  

"It brings a tear to your eyes," Jimmy's father, Katonah volunteer firefighter James Arena, said of the reception a short time later at the family's Purdys home.  

Jimmy and his mom waved from the back seat of the Yorktown fire chief's truck as they rolled past the line of vehicles in frigid temperatures. After landing at Kennedy Airport an hour and a half earlier, this was their escort for the last mile or so of their long trip home. The reception they received outside their Buenta Way home was just as impressive.  

"He doesn't want to go in," said Jimmy's grandmother Sharon Andretta, Gina's mother, as family, friends and firefighters from across northern Westchester and Putnam counties surrounded the blanket-clad mother and son.  

Firefighters and apparatus from Somers, Croton Falls, Goldens Bridge, Chappaqua, Bedford Hills, Brewster, Katonah and Yorktown took part in the parade. Arranging the welcome fell to the Somers Fire Department.  

Chief Ed Byrnes said persuading neighboring departments to join in took all of five minutes.  

"It's the brotherhood of the fire service," Byrnes said. "We're all here for each other."  

The sentiment was echoed up and down the line of fire apparatus, which began arriving before 9 a.m. "He's a hero in all our minds for what he's gone through," Bedford Hills Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Lombardo said.  

Community support has not been lacking since the Arenas' ordeal began. Turnout at a blood drive in April was so high that a second drive had to be scheduled. Two months later, a Family Fun Day benefit was held to help defray the family's expenses.  

George Wahlers, a father of five and a lieutenant with the Somers Fire Department, said it was easy to put himself in the Arenas' position. The Arenas have six daughters in addition to Jimmy.  

"Anything we can do to help make their life easier," Wahlers said, "that's what you should do as a neighbor, as a friend or as a brother firefighter."

[mstrang1 213]

Welcome home Jimmy!