When Gus and Holly Somerfeld hosted Thanksgiving at their East Helena home last fall, their son Otto had just celebrated his first birthday. By the end of the night, he was running a fever.
The illness worsened over the coming days and at 3 a.m. on Nov. 30, Holly rushed him to the emergency room while Gus stayed home with their elder son, three-year-old LeRoy.
Blood work flagged abnormalities, and after days of tests at St. Peter’s Hospital – and a blood sample sent to a national lab for confirmation – the diagnosis came back Dec. 2. Otto had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer.
“The main physician on the floor kind of broke the news to us,” said Gus, becoming emotional recalling the moment. “There could certainly be an issue with a reaction to your common flu or sinus issue – but based off of some of his blood work, that there could be potential for a more serious ailment.”
Doctors at St. Peter’s presented the family with options for specialized pediatric cancer care. They chose Children’s Hospital of Colorado in Denver over options in Seattle and Salt Lake City, in part because of its ratings for pediatric oncology and in part because a partner hospital in Kalispell would allow for follow-up care closer to home.
Holly and Otto flew to Denver Dec 3. Gus, the school principal at R.H. Radley Elementary, followed with LeRoy the next day, and the treatments began. Meanwhile, back home, East Helena kicked into high gear.
With Gus a principal and Holly a sixth-grade teacher at East Valley Middle School, the entire school district immediately knew of their plight. Faculty and staff organized a basketball game orange-out at East Helena High School – in which students and staff wore orange, the color associated with leukemia awareness, to express solidarity with Otto – and a staff-vs-students volleyball game at East Valley Middle School. They also held a bingo night at Missouri River Brewing Co. that raised $6,797 for the family.
East Helenans also opened their wallets. The family launched a GoFundMe in December to help cover medical costs, lost income and travel expenses for Otto’s treatment. As of March 11, donors had contributed more than $98,000, nearing the $100,000 goal. “I don’t know how to encapsulate it all into words,” said Gus, describing the response as overwhelming.
The latest show of support came March 9, when Eagles 4040 in East Helena hosted a benefit steak dinner for the family. The Eagles Aerie and its auxiliary rotate charity selections for their regular steak nights, and Robin Hossfeld, secretary of the auxiliary, said they read about the Somerfelds’ story and reached out to the school district.
Monday’s dinner offered a 12-ounce sirloin, potato, salad and bread for $20 a plate, with Eagles 4040 contributing half of food proceeds and all tips to the family. East Helena school district staff held additional fundraisers alongside the Eagles’ steak night, including a 50/50 raffle and “Give A Little Envelope” – where attendees pick a numbered envelope from a board, donate that amount and stand a chance to win a prize. A coloring station let children make cards for the family. Hossfeld said nights like this can bring in up to $7,000.
Jessie Gjerde, a Helena resident and Eagles 4040 member, said the organization’s commitment to the community speaks for itself. “A huge shoutout to the Eagles for what they do for families that are going through things in their life like this, through hardships,” she said at the dinner.
Jennifer Wiedbusch came out with her husband, the two of them settling in over steaks. An East Helena resident for 25 years, she works at the school district central office and has worked with Holly in the past. “It’s still a very small, close-knit community,” she said of East Helena. “The school district staff is a lot like family, and hopefully we never outgrow that.”
Some Eagles diners had no personal connection. Wendy Voeller, whose sister works at Radley, said she didn’t know the Somerfelds but wanted to be there. “It’s heartwarming,” she said. “I hope it does well. I hope they succeed. I really do.”
Radley librarian K.D. Jones, who knows the Somerfelds, said school district staff have made a point of organizing at least one event for the family every month. For Jones, the effort is about more than money. “Our goal is to do a little something each month to keep letting them know that they’re loved while they’re fighting this battle alongside Otto,” she said.
Otto’s AML is a rarer, more intensive subset of general leukemia, but his treatment timeline is condensed – roughly six months rather than two years. He completed two rounds of chemotherapy before being admitted March 10 to begin the next and most intensive phase of his treatment: five more days of chemotherapy, followed by two days of rest, ahead of a critical bone marrow transplant scheduled for March 18.
If the transplant takes, the family hopes to bring Otto home by the end of June. If he’s cancer-free for two years after that, doctors would give him a strong long-term prognosis. “For his type of cancer and this type of treatment, usually once you hit the two-year mark of being cancer-free, it’s a pretty high likelihood that he’ll be cancer free for the rest of his life,” Gus said.
Holly has stayed in Denver with Otto since they arrived, and Gus has made several extended visits, most recently bringing LeRoy along for three weeks before returning to East Helena in late February. Despite everything, Gus said Otto is doing as well as a one-year-old can.
He has a bald head and needed a feeding tube for a stretch, but when his white blood cell counts are up he’s back to his usual self. “You would not even know he had cancer,” Gus said. “He’s happy-go-lucky – kind of sits back and watches and has a good time and giggles.”
As Otto enters the most challenging stretch of his treatment, Gus said the family’s greatest need right now is not financial, but something much harder to measure.
“The most important part right now is just the well wishes and being positive,” he said. “We’re people of faith – if you’re not, great, well wishes are fine. If you are, prayers have been wonderful and they’re working.”
