Can You Lend A Brother A Hand?

Greetings. My name is Denise “Safire” Valerius and I am setting up this GoFundMe page for a friend of mine who is battling cancer.

Regrettably, time, distance, and the tendency of life to take people on different paths has resulted in our friendship becoming “out of touch” for a couple of decades. However, the memories of camaraderie, laughter, and this man’s unfailing generosity toward so many of us make this a cause close to my heart.

A little bit about me… I first met Ben in the strangest of ways. In early 2004, I had just lost my husband Allen Valerius to head and neck cancer. While picking up a landscaping order from Menards in Yorkville, IL, the gate attendant recognized my name and asked me, “You’re not by chance the same lady who just lost her husband to cancer?” When I told him I was, he informed me that his motorcycle club (Low Lyfz MC out of Plano, IL) was organizing a benefit for my husband that was to take place on Saturday, June 26th, and invited me to the clubhouse to meet the crew. That is when I met Ben “Wizzz” Eaton.

Over the course of just a couple of months, that club became like family to me and Ben became one of my dearest friends and “brother.” Shortly after the benefit held for my husband, I became a member of that club and just 4 years later, helped organize and hold (with Ben) a similar benefit for another dear friend of mine who was battling breast cancer. That benefit, just like the one previously held for my husband and me, was a HUGE success that helped relieve some of the financial burden of medical bills that many suffer in battling a disease like that.

When I met Ben, he was the owner of his own construction company, Eaton Construction, based in Plano, IL. In addition to running his own business, Ben was also the Fundraising Manager for the Low Lyfz MC, and the benefit that we had just organized was the fourth benefit run by the Low Lyfz organization over the course of four years, raising over $35,000 for its local area residents.

In addition to running a construction business for 20+ years, Ben also ran a Community Garden for 5 years and served as city Alderman for 8 years. Dedication to his local community has always been an important part of his life.

In 2020, Ben was an “essential worker” working as a maintenance technician for a meat packaging company when COVID hit and, after suffering a bout of it himself, found himself unexpectedly let go from that company. Ben again went back to residential construction with his business and in 2022, was injured on a rooftop ladder in Chicago. He suffered head, neck, shoulder, and arm injuries that left him disabled and forced to retire. Ben had not planned on such an “early” retirement and has found it difficult to stay afloat financially on disability. It was during a recent routine medical examination for Medicare in March 2024 that he was given the diagnosis of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma.

Ben has a large tumor in his throat and several in his neck; not the “retirement” party he was anticipating. So, after 51 years of work and 12+ years of public service, he finds himself in a tough place. He is currently undergoing aggressive cancer treatment involving radiation and chemotherapy and continues to get increasingly ill. More and more, he finds himself concerned about how sick he will get and how he will be able to manage on a daily basis.

Ben has always embodied a level of compassion and concern for those close to him and even for complete strangers that is greater than most people I know. Without his assistance when I was in need 20 years ago, I do not know where I would be today. And it’s not just about the financial assistance. It was the love, compassion, and friendship that I was given when I was hit the hardest that helped me to push through and overcome my grief and loneliness and rise out of one of the darkest times in my life. It is this sense of family, compassion, and relief that I was once given that compels me to pay it forward and thrust it back into Ben’s court in hopes that he will be able to take comfort in the same.

Please help me to help him. I realize that many of us continue to struggle in today’s economy. So, I ask that you give what you can. Whether that be a simple prayer, a thoughtful wish for his recovery, or some small donation that you can afford; anything you can give will be equally and gratefully accepted. Even if you can't donate, please share this within your network to help get Ben's story out and give him some much needed support.

Thank you and be well.